


homecoming

by bukkunkun



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Marvel Cinematic Universe Fusion, Alternate Universe - Spider-Man Fusion, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Homecoming Dance, M/M, Origin Story, Possible Spider-Man Far From Home Spoilers, Superhero Registration Act, Teen Romance, Teenagers, if you've seen a marvel movie you know that there's post credit scenes here too babey, ish, temporary amputation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-23 23:12:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 31,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19711441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bukkunkun/pseuds/bukkunkun
Summary: Alright, let’s start from the top one last time.This is Earth—just not the one you’re familiar with. (Ring a few bells?)This Earth is called Earth-328, and superheroes are real in this, but you probably knew them as other people. Here, Spider-Man is a high school sophomore named Sora, and his story started about the same way you’d expect from other Spider-People.So, the rest should follow easy enough, right? Let’s get to it.





	1. homecoming

**Author's Note:**

> > sora is spiderman PROS:  
>  \- soriku spidey kiss  
>  \- riku is mj  
>  \- sora thwipping and swinging around new york  
>  \- addendum: sora swinging around ny with riku in his arms, riku screaming his head off and holding on for dear life  
>  \- "i don't want to go..."  
>  \- there are no cons
>> 
>> — 🔮 bukkun, MSc 🕷 mr beck love mail 🔮 (@trickscd) [18 June 2019](https://twitter.com/trickscd/status/1140784576966492166?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> 
> so tom holland's spider-man and jake gyllenhaal's mysterio grabbed me by the dick and now im a spidey fan for life but hey ! the other month i put up a survey asking about spider-man and sora and i decided to write a fusion to celebrate the premiere for Far From Home! except. i didn't make it in time because the fic got too long skldjskldj
> 
> anyway i hope you still enjoy! go watch far from home, out in theaters everywhere at this point!!! it's so good, holy shit! 
> 
> **MAY CONTAIN POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR FAR FROM HOME. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.**

The regular school day of Midtown High ended at 1:45PM to give way to extracurriculars and other activities, such as getting to a part-time job, hanging out with your friends, and other normal stuff—say, being the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

A spiky-haired teenager burst out from the stairwell onto the roof of his school, barely panting as he grinned widely at the rush of the wind around him. The wind was warm, and the sun was bearing down on him, but that did nothing to deter the smile on his face as he felt it against his skin for a moment, before he jumped.

“Okay, okay. Right, gotta rush.”

Quickly he shrugged out of his clothes to reveal a red and blue suit underneath them, and he stuffed his clothes into his backpack, pulling out a red mask, gloves and web shooters. He shrugged his backpack on—he’d learned from last time not to leave his stuff lying around, web shooters or not—and got to work on pulling his mask on, first. The suit AI came to life as he got to work on his gloves.

“ _Good afternoon, Sora._ ” He greeted, “ _You have a message from Kairi._ ”

“Patch her through, please.” Sora locked his web shooters in place, and experimentally fired a shot at a nearby wall. A little web smacked against the wall with a soft sound, and he grinned, nodding in satisfaction.

“ _Sora,_ ” a girl’s voice said in his ears, “ _We got a bogey on 21st Street. Think you can take care of that first? Miss Aqua’s in a meeting right now, but she let me into her lab to wait._ ”

“Jeez.” Sora grumbled. “Jiminy, can you tell Kairi I’m on my way?”

“ _Should I tell her you’ll take care of the muggers on 21st Street?_ ”

Sora sighed, shooting a web rope up at an adjacent skyscraper, and sighed.

“Yeah, what the hell.” He shrugged, and ran off the ledge to leap high into the air, sailing downwards in a graceful arc before he swung up high thanks to his web ropes. “Nothin’ like a warm-up before we get completely chewed out by the boss, right!”

* * *

Alright, let’s start from the top one last time.

This is Earth—just not the one you’re familiar with.

You could be familiar with some other Earths you’ve encountered in your life, ones with superheroes in them like that one with that British guy pretending to be American. Or the one that looks like a gorgeous comic book come to life, or the one with John Mulaney in it.

(Just kidding—John Mulaney is a universal constant. _Every_ Earth has him in it, whether you recognize him or not.)

Hell, you could be in a world where there were _no_ superheroes around, and that world just sucks. Sucks to be you, I guess.

This Earth is called Earth-328, and superheroes _are_ real in this, but you probably knew them as other people. Here, Spider-Man is a high school sophomore named Sora, and his story started about the same way you’d expect from other Spider-People.

So, the rest should follow easy enough, right? Let’s get to it.

* * *

“The butterfly effect, as they say, is the catalyst of many changes,” the woman in a shimmering blue suit said, the crystals of her earrings glimmering in the spotlight she stood under. “The littlest of things can cause the greatest change, and it is that little thing—that little _spark,_ that started my humble little company,”

She smirked slightly, painted lips pulling up in a sharp, self-assured leer.

“Stark Industries.”

Sparklers set off behind her, and the crowd burst into cheers.

The rest of the Expo presentation by the Iron Woman herself was nothing short of spectacular—Kairi looked up at Stark Industries’ CEO, Miss Aqua, like the woman hung the stars up in the sky herself, and Sora wouldn’t be surprised if Iron Woman really did manage that. Her suit of armor, powerful and brilliant glimmering chrome and blue, was a thing where both magic and science collided, the line between them blurring until Sora could no longer tell where the suit crossed from fact to fiction.

Not that there was anything fictional about it, no—it was a fully functioning suit, the very same one that carried an atomic bomb into an interdimensional portal to keep New York safe at nearly the cost of her pilot’s life.

Miss Aqua was amazing, and the guiding light to Kairi’s brilliant genius mind.

Sora, not quite as genius, was just there for the ride.

When Kairi got complimentary tickets to the Stark Expo that year, she immediately brought her best friend along, and with Sora in tow, the two of them quickly fell in love with what Stark Expo had to offer. There were so much technological innovations on display—from green energy, to nanorobotics, ultra-smart AI software to the latest technology in military warfare. There was so much to do, so much to see, and by the middle of it all, Sora and Kairi stood together, eyes wide and shining like stars from the twinkling lights of the Expo, the redhead girl excitedly chattering nonstop about what she wanted to do.

A bit of this, a bit of that, a bit of _everything,_ and Sora was hopelessly lost, but just as proud of her if he’d understood what she was saying.

“Oh, my gosh, it’s overwhelming.” She laughed, running her hand through her hair, and Sora laughed with her, nodding. “We’ve got another half to go.”

“Can you still process it?” Sora asked, “I know I sure can’t.”

Kairi giggled, and patted his cheek reassuringly.

“That’s sweet, Sora, but you don’t have to burn through all your brain cells just for me.” She grinned, and the brunet laughed, ruffling her hair to mess it up. Kairi burst out giggling, and the two of them calmed down as they began to walk on.

There were more marvels to behold—neurotransmitter technology, the forefront of pharmaceutical drug delivery, an attempt at recreating the Super Soldier serum—

“Ooh, look at that.” Kairi cooed, as she and Sora came to a stop in front of a glass container, where he could see several writhing little things inside. The two friends leaned closer, and Sora’s eyes widened when he realized that they were little spiders writhing about. “Oh, ew!” Kairi squealed, pulling herself and Sora away from the container, and Sora laughed at her, playfully nudging at her side as she blew a raspberry at him.

“Oh, c’mon, Kairi, they’re just spiders,” Sora teased, leaning on the container casually, and she rolled her eyes, gesturing for him to get off the container.

“They’re gross and creepy and I hate them.” She replied, poking his nose sternly, and scoffed as she turned away. “Let’s move on, jeez.”

Sora shook his head fondly, and followed her.

It took them a while, but soon they got through the Expo, Kairi’s arms filled with paper bags and fliers for laboratories with open slots for internships for her to peruse, while Sora carried their refreshments.

“Are you gonna try gunning for the Stark Internship?” Sora asked, as Kairi struggled to dump all her things in the back of their car. In front, Sora’s older brother Ventus watched them fondly, and Kairi nodded vigorously.

“Hell yeah.” She replied. “I mean, who _isn’t?_ ”

“Aren’t you… well…” Sora rubbed the back of his neck, “Aren’t you intimidated by how many other people are also applying?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Kairi finally shut the trunk door, and grinned at Sora. “But if you didn’t take a leap of faith, you won’t get anywhere, y’know?”

She punched his arm lightly. “So, I’m going.”

“Man,” Sora sighed. “Wish I was brave like you.”

“Look, we don’t share the same life, Sora.” She chuckled fondly, and the two of them bundled into the backseats as Ventus started up the car’s engine. “This is how I can be brave. You’ll find other ways to be brave, promise.”

Sora gave her a little smile at that, and the two of them fell quiet, leaning on each other as Ventus drove them back to Kairi’s house.

That evening, as Sora was brushing his teeth, he felt it—a little stinging pain on his nape, and he winced, reaching up to swat at his little assailant.

He pulled his hand away to see a crumpled little spider, and he shrugged, brushing it off his hand before continuing as normal.

And that’s exactly where it began.

* * *

Many Spider-People had their story thrust upon them as fast as water falls from an upturned bucket. If the bucket wasn’t carried by centripetal forces, and the water leaves its initial point to soak some poor unsuspecting teenager below.

That is to say, provided the Spider-Man’s world turned on an axis at some regular rate. The many Peter Parkers, the Miles Moraleses, Gwen Stacies, and all other Spider-People out there had homes that all turned on its own axis, at its own speed.

Sora’s world, Earth-328, was nothing like theirs.

Things happened all too quickly and all too slowly. The world turned on its axis too quickly that no one felt it, save for the rest of the world that it brought along.

Hence, the bucket of fate that was supposed to dunk Sora’s responsibility on him wasn’t quite ready yet to drown him in proverbial Spider-Man water.

In fact, that centripetal force kept the water firmly in place, at least until the world would slow down enough for it to fall.

Earth-328 came to a sudden halt on March 28, 2019, approximately two years after Sora’s fateful spider bite. Contrary to most Spider-People, Sora’s powers bloomed a bit late, but as the saying went, things were always better late than never.

The butterfly took its damn sweet time, but its effect was on its way.

* * *

Between the fateful bite of 2017 and today, Sora and Kairi’s little group of two became a group of three. Over the years, they made a friend out of Riku, their senior, and the three of them grew close quickly, especially when Kairi and Riku were together in their school’s academic decathlon team. Sora frequently tagged along to their drills as moral support, and after that, Sora and Riku would often go on rounds in the school’s training rooms, sparring until they were kicked out by the exasperated building staff.

The moment the world came to a stop was at around 11:36 AM, just a few minutes shy of the lunchtime bell, when Sora sat down next to Riku at their usual table, Kairi in tow. The older teen held something out to him, and Sora cocked his head.

“What’s this?” He asked, taking it. It was an oddly-shaped item wrapped haphazardly with Christmas wrapping paper, and Sora gave Riku a dubious look.

“Exactly what you think it is, duh.” Riku replied, not taking his eyes off his phone, but he was smirking around the straw of his juice box. Sora blinked at him slowly, before looking back down at the present.

“Happy birthday, Jesus. Who is me?” He asked, and Kairi snorted into her hand.

“Yes, you. Savior of us all.”

Sora blew her a raspberry as he set about tearing the wrapper open, navigating through the mess of paper and tape as he laughed.

“Riku, did you wrap this drunk?”

“Blindfolded.” Riku amended. “We’re not allowed to drink yet, genius.”

Sora snickered, and finally reached the middle of the present—only to find a browning, half-eaten starfruit. He gave Riku a dry look, and the teen burst out laughing, covering his face with his hand as he doubled over on the table. Suddenly he choked, and Sora burst out laughing in his place, Kairi shooting to her feet to hand Riku a glass of water as the three of them began laughing brightly.

Riku met Sora’s gaze, and Sora could see the way Riku’s eyes lit up with sheer _joy_ in them, and he felt his heart skip a beat.

And the world, Earth-328, stopped.

When a spinning object stops spinning, gravity takes hold. Centripetal forces diminish instantly, and the water in the bucket above Sora’s head finally let go of its load.

Sora shuddered, and realized he’d fallen in love.

(And also became Spider-Man, but we’ll get to that later.)

Kairi elbowed him lightly, and he shook his head, plastering a grin on his face as he took a bite out of the fruit anyway, and his best friends let out twin shouts of disgust and protest. Riku shoved a more decently-wrapped present into Sora’s hands, and the brunet laughed, bumping their shoulders together.

“Thanks, Riku.” He said, and Riku finally gave him a genuine smile.

“Happy birthday, Sora.” The older teen replied, and if Sora saw roses blooming around him, that was Sora’s business, and his alone.

* * *

After school, the three friends settled together on the school bleachers upon Kairi’s request after she was handed a rather ominous envelope on their way out of the school to hang out elsewhere. The two boys settled down on the bleachers as she looked at the envelope nervously, before taking a deep breath.

“Here goes.” She said shakily.

“Boo, just open it up.” Riku jeered flatly, and she threw her headband at him. He laughed, and put it on as she unsteadily opened it anyway, gingerly tearing the lip open before practically tearing the letter inside out.

Sora and Riku waited patiently as she read through it rather viciously, but their eyes widened when she looked back at them, her eyes filling up with tears.

“H-hey,” Sora began, making a move to get up alongside Riku. “Kairi, are you okay?”

“I—I got in!” She squealed, jumping up in the air and dancing, and the two boys looked at each other dubiously. “ _I got in!_ The Stark Internship! Oh, my _god,_ I never thought I’d—oh my god!”

Kairi danced in place for a moment, and then froze.

“God, I’m so sorry, I—oh, man, I…” Kairi bit her lip, gingerly squeezing the papers in her hands, as the two boys with her gaped at her, wide-eyed. “I—I made it about me—Sora, I’m so sorry.”

“Hey, hey,” Sora said reassuringly, “Kairi. Dude. This is a _super cool_ present to get on my birthday. I mean, look! One of my best friends! Finally, in the Stark Internship! How could you _not_ be stoked? Right, Riku?”

“It’s definitely cool.” Riku agreed, and Sora beamed at Kairi.

“I know it’s my birthday, but it’s okay to have your moments too, y’know.” Sora winked at her, and Kairi giggled nervously, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear. “That’s so awesome. To be Miss Aqua’s apprentice… how many of you got in?”

Kairi flushed. “Just me.” She mumbled, and her boys burst into cheers, clapping and hooting for her. Kairi laughed at that, playfully smacking at Riku’s arm as the older teen laughed in delight.

“That’s amazing!” Sora cheered, hugging Kairi one-armed. “Now we have _two_ things to celebrate! Best! Birthday! Ever!”

Kairi smiled up at him, and then at Riku, who smiled at her reassuringly.

“Told you he’d take it well.” He said, and she smiled.

“Yeah.” She agreed, and Sora beamed at her. “Sorry I doubted you, Sora.”

“It’s fine,” Sora waved her off, “It’s a no-brainer for me! We’re friends, after all!”

“Fair enough.” Kairi chuckled, and pulled away from him. “Okay, my treat. Wanna get some crepes?”

“Hell yeah!” Sora cheered, and Riku nodded, smiling. “Kairi’s the best!”

“He says, after wolfing down my treat sandwich for him, claiming _I_ was the best.” Riku deadpanned, but he was smiling as he crossed his arms. Sora blew him a raspberry, and the older teen laughed, getting up. “C’mon, let’s get going. Kairi, you better make good on that promise. I’m ordering the giant parfait crepe.”

“No way!” Kairi gasped, also shooting to her feet. She lunged forward to grab at Riku, but the teen dodged, laughing, and their laughter filled the bleachers they sat at. Sora laughed along with them, but his smile slid off his face when he felt his senses suddenly scream at him—

**_WATCH OUT!_ **

He whirled around, raising his hand to suddenly catch a football hurtling towards him. From across the field, he could hear the quarterbacks cheering as a tall teen in their school’s football team uniform jogged up to him.

Sora gaped at the football. If he hadn’t caught it, it would have hit him right in the neck. His hand lowered to his lap as he stared at it incredulously, and he numbly looked up at the player that approached him.

“Awesome catch, dude!” The teen cheered, as Sora handed the ball to him shakily. “That was amazing, it’s like you had eyes at the back of your head or something!”

“Y-yeah…” Sora muttered, and the player jogged back to his teammates. The brunet turned to look at Riku and Kairi, who were gaping at him in shock. “Lucky catch, huh?”

“That’s… whoa.” Kairi breathed. “That was a little scary.”

Sora laughed nervously, and shrugged. “Well, at least we’re okay.” He got up onto his feet, and tried to push the incident to the back of his mind. “C’mon, let’s just get some crepes.”

* * *

I'll spare you most of the sordid details of how Sora discovered some of the rest of his repertoire of superpowers, but I suppose I owe you at least little vignettes of our little spider’s development.

Sticky hands got stuck on Ventus’s car, and he spent a whole school night stuck on the chassis of the old four-wheel drive as he watched his other older brother Vanitas go about his moonlight job as a weed dealer. He came home still stuck to the chassis to the sound of muffled metal music, and when the car finally came to a stop next to their little apartment complex, Sora found himself dropping off to sleep, and finally discovered that relaxing was the only way to unstick from things.

That, and to never unstick from under the chassis, as it would definitely drop you into a puddle of dirty rainwater and cold virus, which quickly took over Sora’s body as he crawled back into his shared bedroom with their youngest—Roxas, cleaning himself up quickly before dropping himself into bed.

 _(“I feel like shit,”_ Sora had said when dawn came in, and repeated it, with much more meaning when Ventus came to wake him up. _“Can I stay at home today?”_

Ventus gave him one look, and smiled fondly.

 _“‘Course you can, little buddy.”_ He said, and kissed Sora’s forehead while Roxas grumbled about being the only one to have to go to school that day. _“Rest up so you can get back quickly. I’ll go make chicken soup for you to reheat for lunch.”)_

Ventus is a good brother. Vanitas, to an extent, but the weed money keeps a roof over their heads, and hey, it wasn’t like dealing marijuana was the worst crime in the world, if it was a crime at all.

Sora discovered his super strength and hyper healing by stopping a bus.

A typical Tuesday morning, inclusive of a lot of screaming—

Actually, I do think _that_ is a story worth telling.

* * *

Earth-328, fast-spinning as it was, was exceptionally prone to dangerous accidents, super-induced or not. In response to the former, Earth-328’s world governments formed and approved the Sokovia Accords to control the damage caused by enhanced individuals. These Accords were a major point of contention between the world’s defenders, but as it stands, during the course of Sora’s 15th year of his life, the Accords were in place, and the world was at peace.

Tenser than thick butter you could cut with a hot butter knife, but at “peace”, nonetheless.

There were times, however, when supers _did_ manage to operate, and normally, this involved extremely dangerous circumstances.

Like today, April 23, 2019, at precisely 7:00 in the morning.

Armed with a permit to take down a group the government refused to name, Iron Woman soared through the skies of New York, the sunlight glinting off the chrome and blue of her suit like the sparkling diamond earrings she was fond of, flying like it was the last flight of her life.

(Which, in hindsight, upon the implementation of the Accords, did feel that way, when it had been _literal months_ and hundreds of hurt civilians since she flew in the skies by herself.)

They were currently in a hovering vehicle enhanced with Chitauri tech—something that had previously been unheard of, not since 2012, but there it was—technology from the debris that had supposedly been reclaimed by the US Defense Department, out and about in the streets, armed and _dangerous._

It was a school day, and they were thundering through the busy streets of Queens, Iron Woman hot on their heels, repulsor blasts meeting ion blaster shots, explosions ringing through the streets as she chased after them. Sora’s school bus, a dinky piss-yellow pathetic box of a vehicle, was slowly moving along, that fond little _put-put-put_ noise that Sora was incredibly fond of punctuating the sound of loud, rowdy teenagers in the bus.

A typical school day, really, until the bus suddenly flew into the air. Riku grabbed Sora and Kairi, the three of them screaming as their world jolted around, when it abruptly stopped. The three teens shared shocked looks as Riku cautiously straightened up from where he was draped over his best friends to realize the bus had flown into the air, and _stayed there._

“Wh-what’s going on?” Kairi screamed shakily, her grip on Riku’s biceps white-knuckled, and Sora just knew she was going to leave bruises. The older teen didn’t seem to mind, though, too preoccupied and pumped full of adrenaline and shock, and shook his head.

“I don’t—I don’t know.”

“ _I got you, I got you,_ ” They heard Miss Aqua’s voice outside, tinny through some kind of speaker, and all the people in the bus gasped.

“It’s Iron Woman!”

“Iron Woman saved us!”

“Oh, shit! This is going on my Insta!”

Sora, Riku and Kairi straightened up slowly, the three of them holding onto each other as Iron Woman slowly set the bus down onto the ground, and Sora jolted when Iron Woman tore the door from its hinges the moment they were on the ground.

“ _Out, now!_ ” She barked, and the bus driver and conductor didn’t waste a second—quickly running to the back of the bus to usher all the students out. Riku pulled Sora and Kairi up onto their feet and ushered them out first, hurrying after them at their heels, and Sora couldn’t help but gape up at Iron Woman as she stood by the door, panting slightly as she took account of all the students hurrying out of the bus. “ _Minnie, what’s the situation?_ ”

A robotic voice spoke from inside her suit, and even Kairi was gaping now.

“ _There’s no one left inside the bus, Miss._ ” The AI replied, and Iron Woman nodded to herself, suddenly picking up the bus right behind the bus driver as he was the last to step out. The man let out a shocked yell as she did so, but Iron Woman wasted no time apologizing—throwing the bus right up at the escaping hovercraft, sending it careening down to the ground, where mercifully the police had cleared of civilians. She charged away after the crashed hovercraft, and Sora and Kairi turned to look at each other.

“Oh, my gosh!” They cheered simultaneously, grabbing each other’s hands as they jumped up and down, their blood alight and abuzz with adrenaline and excitement.

“Iron Woman!” Kairi squealed, “It’s Miss Aqua! Miss Aqua!”

“C’mon, guys,” Riku tutted, and Sora looked at him, his heart dropping at the sight of the older teen’s face so pale, and the brunet squeezed his wrist. Riku gave Sora a shaky smile, and patted his shoulder. “I’m okay. Hey, fangirl later, we have to get outta here.” He said, and Kairi nodded. Riku tugged on Sora’s hand, and his two friends followed suit—

**_WATCH OUT!_ **

Sora’s spine tingled, and he jolted, whirling around to see a black splotch in the sky hurtling towards them, and his eyes widened, yanking Kairi and Riku behind him as he raised his hand—

“ _Fuck!_ ” Iron Woman probably didn’t mean to widely broadcast her curse, but there it was.

A bus came hurtling towards them—the bad guys, whoever they were that Miss Aqua was fighting—had some sense of humor, at least, when Sora realized that it was the same bus that had downed their aircraft.

Kairi screamed. Riku grabbed hold of her as he yanked at the back of Sora’s shirt desperately, but Sora stayed still, rooted to the ground not just by that tingling sensation in his nape, but that impossible feeling that he could do it.

He could stop that bus, he _had_ to.

“Sora, you _idiot!_ ” Riku screamed, as the bus came right at them—

“ _No!_ ” Iron Woman screamed, and the world turned black.

* * *

Oh, were you expecting that Sora blacked out? No, no. The bus covered them, and it got really dark.

It probably also helped that Sora had squeezed his eyes shut as his hand shot up defensively, feeling hot, hot metal press against his palm—

_And bend._

His eyes shot open, shock taking over his heart when he saw that the metal bumper of the bus bent at where his hand stopped it, barely even pushing Sora back into his friends. He screamed, feeling the way the hot metal burned his skin, but he couldn’t move away. He was still rooted in place with shock and adrenaline. He looked at his hand, still feeling the tingling sensation in his nape that the danger wasn’t over, but he crumpled to the ground when the bus screeched to a halt with a pitiful screech of creaking metal. Riku bundled Sora up into his arms as Kairi clung onto his back, and the older teen’s scolding faded into background noise as Sora continued to stare at the bus.

It lifted slowly, and Sora could see Iron Woman looking at them from the other side, having caught the bus, at least to most of the onlookers.

But Sora and Iron Woman knew better.

* * *

Aqua couldn’t believe her eyes.

“Minnie, did you—tell me you caught that.” She said shakily, dropping the bus down off to the side with a loud bang, making the ground shake beneath her feet.

“ _As best as your visor could, Miss._ ” The AI replied. “ _It is likely he is an enhanced individual. His existence currently violates the Sokovia Accords._ ”

“I…” Aqua hesitated, but the children she’d tried to save—

 _She failed,_ but that boy—the brunet one held down by his other friends and staring at Aqua in horror and amazement—saved them.

_He saved them—_

Succeeded, where she failed.

“ _The bus!_ ” that superpowered boy screamed, and Aqua’s eyes widened, jerking around to look at the upturned bus.

“ _The bus’s fuselage has burst. It will explode in fifteen seconds._ ” Minnie reported, cool as a cucumber, and Aqua’s heart shot to her throat.

“On it,” she barked, grabbing the bus before hauling it into the sky, shooting it far up, high above the roofs of the buildings that surrounded them, and she fired at it with her repulsors. “Minnie, shields!”

“ _Deploying RESCUE shields._ ”

A series of metal plates burst out from behind Iron Woman like a pair of wings, shooting up into the sky to form an electromagnetic barrier, blocking off the worst of the bus’s explosion while debris fell to the ground.

Aqua turned to look back at the teens, and while the silver-haired one and the redhead were staring at her in shock and awe, the brunet looked _terrified._

“They’re coming!” He warned her.

“ _The criminals you have been chasing are approaching us rapidly._ ” Minnie reported as if on cue. “ _T-minus one minute and twenty seconds._ ”

“I know.” Aqua said out loud, and turned around to shield the children as her RESCUE shields came back to her. “Pretty boy. Silver hair.” She barked over her shoulder, and the eldest-looking of the three of them jolted.

“Y-yes, ma’am!”

“Get then somewhere safe, quickly. Your class went that way.” She jerked her head towards the direction where the rest of the bus had run off to, hiding behind police lines.

“On it!”

The eldest teen pulled the other two up to stand. “C’mon, you two, let’s go!”

The brunet still gaped at Aqua as he was pulled along, but she kept her gaze away from him, charging forward to meet her opponents face-on.

“He knew the bus was gonna blow up before you did, Minnie.” If her hands were free, she would run them through her short hair. “How could he have known that? How could he have known those guys were coming, they were down the street?” She muttered. “It’s… what _is_ that?”

“ _Precognitive danger identification._ ” Minnie chirped. “ _Listed as an enhancement according to the—_ ”

“I know, I know,” Aqua winced, dropping to the ground, repulsors at the ready. “Let’s talk about this later. RESCUE up—Wingblade formation!”

“ _Deploying claymore configuration._ ”

* * *

“Sora, show me your hands.”

Later, Sora, Riku and Kairi found themselves in the back of an ambulance hurrying to the nearest hospital, Kairi dozing off on Sora’s shoulder after finally crashing from her adrenaline rush. The boys let her sleep, but Riku still seemed restless, finally speaking up after a long moment of silence.

Sora gingerly held his hands out at Riku, expecting his palms to be singed and splotchy with burns—but they were clean. A little red, but his skin was unbroken, and there was no evidence of the bumpers burning him, save for the slight tingle that remained under his skin, though Sora could admit to himself that it was mostly because Riku touched him there, and not because of the hot metal.

 _(Holy shit, he stopped a bus that was about to explode._ **_Holy shit._** _)_

That wasn’t his focus right now, but you could bet later on that day he would be staring at the ceiling, freaking out about it.

For now, he was caught up in the moment of Riku looking at his hands, so concerned and worried, and Sora felt butterflies fluttering around in his stomach.

He’d always been hanging around with Riku since they met, but he only ever really noticed just how… _pretty_ his eyes were. Up this close.

“Whoa.” They said simultaneously, and Sora pursed his lips shut when Riku looked at him dubiously. The older teen shook his head, and lowered Sora’s hands onto their laps with a sigh. “It’s a miracle you escaped without a scratch. Seriously, what were you _thinking?_ It’s a good thing Iron Woman was there to protect us, but _god_ do not ever scare me like that again.”

Sora looked back at him gingerly as Riku shook his head, running his hands through his hair in exasperation. “I wouldn’t know what I’d do if—” he stopped himself, and sighed, leaning against the wall of the ambulance. “Just. Get down next time, okay?”

“Yeah, sorry.” Sora said blankly, and Riku gave him a smile, before shutting his eyes to get some rest. Sora looked down at his hands, and tried to process.

 _I stopped a bus today._ He thought. _Also, why is everything so_ **_loud?_ **

It was the Spider-Man powers, but Sora wouldn’t realize that until much later.

* * *

The Spider-Man secret was one that never lasted long when it came to people near and dear to his heart. On Earth-199999, Peter Parker accidentally reveals himself to his best friend Ned Leeds by crawling upside-down in his room. The Peter from Earth-96283 had his own best friend Harry Osborn, but he broke his heart and we’re not about to talk about that here.

On Earth-328, Sora has two best friends.

One who knew nothing, and the other, who knew _everything._

It had been two weeks since the encounter with Iron Woman, and three since the start of Kairi’s Stark Internship. It was everything she ever dreamed of, and nothing she had ever imagined.

She’d hoped that she would at least spend some time with Miss Aqua, but in those three weeks that Kairi was over at Stark Tower, all she managed to do was to tour the labs and facilities, go through some training in each.

“ _I’m not complaining, but, like…_ ” Kairi rubbed her arm in the feed while Sora and Riku had to settle with pressing their heads together to fit the screen.

(Of course, they could just move back, but Sora was too selfish to pull away from Riku to even think about that.)

“ _I just want to see her, y’know? See the way she thinks, how she works… don’t get me wrong, Stark Tower is amazing, but…_ ” she sighed, but then jumped at the sound of someone calling her name. “ _oh, gotta go! See you guys later!_ ”

With Kairi out, it had mostly been Riku and Sora alone together, and Sora’s crush on his friend only intensified. Sora made sure to have Kairi privy to this information, and she was nothing short of delighted to find out.

He wasn’t sure whether he should tell her about the bus incident yet—but he was eventually forced to, one day.

When he _wasn’t_ goofing off with Riku on the training mats or the local arcade, Sora was testing out his powers. He’d climbed walls and scaled buildings and jumped from one to the next, and while the development of his powers was something he was not too thrilled with—

Oh, who was he kidding, sure, it was frightening, but when you could jump across buildings and climb really, really high without breaking a sweat—

“ _Whoooooooo!_ ” Sora cheered, soaring over an alleyway, running and keeping up with the train.

—Well. Who _wouldn’t_ be excited? The abs he got from it were a sweet bonus, too.

It became a habit of his to go free running over the rooftops of Queens, laughing delightedly, free as the wind, until the sun came down and it was time to go home. On his way back, he was suddenly stopped by that familiar tingling sensation in his nape—

**_Danger down below!_ **

He heard a scream, and he froze at the edge of a building as he looked down to see a young woman—or was she a teenager?—being mugged.

His heart shot up to his throat. There were two assailants—one was carrying a gun, the other a knife. He swallowed nervously, surveying the situation.

“God, someone should help her,” He said weakly, and gripped the plaster railing so tight it crumbled in his fist. He jumped, his eyes widening at his hand, and realization dawned on him.

“ _I_ could help her.” Sora breathed, and wasted no time—he dove down from the roof to slam into the mugger holding the gun. The girl screamed, as the other guy let out a shocked shout, but Sora quickly got up, picking the other man up easily before throwing him at his partner. The two of them slammed against the wall of the alley _hard,_ immediately falling unconscious. Sora whirled around desperately, disoriented, and jumped at the sound of the woman’s gasp. He kept his gaze on her would-be muggers, holding up his fists defensively, and jerked his head at the street beyond the alleyway.

“Get outta here!” he barked, “I’ll—I’ll hold them off until the police arrive, o-or somethin’!”

The girl wasted no time hurrying away, already on her phone, and Sora was sure she was calling the police for him, good for her. Sora waited there in the alleyway, cautiously watching if the men were going to wake up, but the police arrived soon enough, and when he heard their sirens he sighed deeply, and climbed back up to the roofs of the buildings to stay out of sight.

It was bad enough that he was kind of late in coming home—god, he’d meant to make dinner for Ventus and Vanitas when they came home as a little surprise, but he guessed _that_ was out of the window.

Instead, he went _in_ the window, silently grateful that Roxas was out at a sleepover with his friends, and quietly pulled their room’s sliding window up, unsticking himself from the windowpane as he held his breath. He crawled through the little space, wincing slightly as he gently set the window down to close it again, and then across his ceiling, gently shutting the door with a soft sigh.

He dropped himself to the ground, and jumped when he saw a familiar bag on his study table.

“Oh, no.” he said intelligently, and stiffened up. He winced, and slowly turned around to see Kairi sitting on his bed—the lower bunk, since Roxas preferred the upper one—gaping at him. “ _Kairi._ ”

“Oh, my god.” She said shakily. “ _You’re a super._ ”

“I—I’m _not,_ ” Sora said defensively, but god, the look in her eyes told him she wasn’t buying it. “I-I’m not, I swear!”

“You were on the _ceiling!_ ” Kairi hissed, but she was grinning widely, shooting up to her feet. Sora shook his head wildly, and she grabbed him by his shoulders. “I _knew_ it! _You_ were the one who stopped the bus that day, it _couldn’t_ have been Iron Woman, she wasn’t there fast enough—”

“Kairi, _shut up!_ ” Sora hissed, slapping his hands over her mouth, but it didn’t seem to deter her, her eyes sparkling at him as he looked back at her exasperatedly. “Look, I—I’m…Yeah. I’m a super.”

“How?” She asked past Sora’s hand on her mouth, and he looked sheepish.

“I, uh… I’m not sure.” He said, sighing as he dropped down on his bed, as Kairi settled down next to him. “It just… happened, one day.”

“You don’t know where it came from?” Kairi asked, and Sora sighed, rubbing his neck. He jumped slightly, and she cocked her head at him. “Sora?”

“There’s… a bump here.” He said weakly. “Oh, god. Remember the Stark Expo a few years back?” He asked, and Kairi nodded slowly. “That night, when I got home, a spider bit me.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, my god.”

“Now that I think about it.” Sora said hesitantly. “The spider probably came from…”

“The Stark Expo.” Kairi breathed. “Oh, my god. It bit you. Whatever it was. It _did_ something to you.” Kairi’s eyes were wide with wonder, and Sora held his breath. They stayed quiet for a long moment, stretching out until it felt like an hour, and Sora squirmed uncomfortably.

“Say something?” He asked, strained.

“Do you lay eggs?” She breathed, and Sora jerked away from her.

“ _What?_ No!”

Kairi burst out laughing, and she shook her head. “I’m kidding, jeez. So, what else can you do? Did it basically turn you into a spider, too?”

“Yeah, I—” Sora ran his hand through his hair. “I can sense things I can’t see yet. Don’t think spiders can do that, but I can climb walls—you already know that—and I—I can kinda keep up with the train when I run by it.” He confessed. “I heal super-fast; bruises last just hours and cuts last even less.” He took a shaky breath, and hesitantly continued, “Actually, I think this all started on my birthday. Everything just became _so much,_ I dunno…”

He shook his head, wincing. “My senses were turned up to 11, I could barely process anything, but I kinda just found my way around that by wearing headphones all day. The eye thing—I don’t know what to do with it, I’ve been popping painkillers for days now,” At that, Kairi winced, and he looked apologetic. “Sorry. It’s been giving me migraines. Super-sense is only cool when you need it for dangerous stuff, but other than that, it’s driving me crazy.”

Kairi frowned. “Anything else?”

“I have super-strength, I—yeah. I stopped the bus that day. I don’t know if Iron Woman noticed.”

Kairi leaned back on her hands, taking a bewildered breath as Sora looked at her sheepishly.

“Wow.” She nodded. “That’s. A lot.”

“I also stopped a mugging tonight.” He said quietly, “That’s why I got home so late.”

“Yeah, I know.” Kairi replied weakly. “I was there.”

Sora jumped and gaped at her, and she gave him a withering smile.

“Thanks for saving me, Sora.” She said softly, and he deflated, rushing forward to hug her tightly, and she hugged him back, sighing shakily into the crook of his neck. “God, thank you, truly. I don’t know what could’ve happened at that mugging, I’ll be honest.”

“I’m glad you’re okay.” Sora mumbled into her shoulder, and she pulled away to cup his face in her hands. He looked back at her pleadingly, and bit his lip. “Please don’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t.” Kairi nodded determinedly, and she squeezed his shoulders. “Sora, I would _never_ sell you out. I’m not a cop.”

He laughed softly, nodding. “So, what’re you doing here, anyway? Did Ven let you in?”

“Yeah, I told him we were gonna work on some class project together.” She replied, tapping her chin. “Man, Sora, what’re you gonna do now? You’re a super. All things considered; you’re supposed to be illegal.”

“I know, I just—” Sora took a shaky breath. “I dunno…”

Kairi looked at him sympathetically. “I’m grateful you helped me, but this is dangerous. You should leave the crime fighting to the police and the superheroes.”

Sora looked at her for a moment, but he shook his head, sitting up. “I don’t want to.”

The redhead’s eyes widened, and she sat up with him. “But Sora—”

“Tonight, I saved you, and I realized something.” He said softly. “I _have_ to do this. I _have_ to help people.” He met her worried gaze on him, and he gave her a little smile. “Because there’s things I can do that other people can’t. Whether it’s because they’re not… _like me_ or they’re not allowed, it doesn’t matter.” Sora gently took her hand and squeezed it. “Tonight, I could’ve lost one of my best friends in the world if I didn’t _do something._ If I just sat around and waited for someone else to _do something,_ and no one came.”

Sora sighed, and looked out at the window, at the night skyline of Queens, and Kairi’s gaze softened on him.

“If you could do the things I could—if you could help, but you didn’t, and something bad happens…” He took a shaky breath. “Then that would be on you, wouldn’t it?”

Kairi blinked at him slowly, and Sora laughed wryly.

“I’m not trying to be a hero.” He said, “I’m just… looking out for the little guy, y’know?”

The redhead finally smiled, and Sora mirrored her smile.

“Wow.” She breathed. “That’s… so brave, Sora.”

The brunet laughed softly, and shrugged, bumping his shoulder with Kairi’s.

“A while back, one of the bravest people I know told me I could find another way to be brave.” He said, and her eyes welled up with emotion. He squeezed her hand. “So, this is how I’ll be brave. If you made it into the Stark Internship all by yourself, I’m going to look out for Queens by myself.”

“You won’t be alone.” Kairi replied, and Sora smiled slightly. “I’ll help you. Since Miss Aqua doesn’t seem to be too keen on ever seeing me, I’ll make sure she won’t see what I’m up to, either. I’ll use what resources I have in Stark Tower and I’ll make you a suit.”

“A _suit?_ ” Sora’s eyes widened, and she nodded, grinning widely.

“It’ll be perfect,” She said, “It’ll protect your identity, muffle your super-senses enough to get you to focus, bulletproof—”

“ _Bulletproof!_ ”

“People’re gonna shoot at you, duh,” Kairi talked over Sora’s spluttered protest. “I’ll make web shooters too. Since you’re practically a spider-guy, uh…” She frowned at him, cocking her head, and he gave her a withering grin. “Spiderling? Spider-boy?”

“Spider-Man?” Sora ventured, and Kairi mulled on it for a moment. “Uh, or no go?”

“No, I kinda like it.” She nodded, smiling. “Spider-Man. Has a nice ring to it.”

Sora grinned at her, and she offered him her hand to shake. “It’s an honor, Spider-Man.” She said. “Put ‘er here.”

“It’s an honor, Kairi.” He replied, shaking her hand firmly. “Let’s do this.”

* * *

And so, Earth-328’s Spider-Man was born.

While some Peter Parkers had their genius intellect and made their own suits, Sora had his best friend Kairi.

Genius inventor (not quite to Miss Aqua’s level yet, not quite, but she’s getting there), fashion designer-for-fun, and master seamstress, Kairi, and the opportunity of a lifetime.

* * *

The suit was gorgeous, and probably shouldn’t have existed first before the iconic red and blue one, but neither Sora nor Kairi knew that. The very evening Kairi finished the suit, she hurried over to Sora’s place, grinning widely as she and Sora kicked Roxas out of their room. The two of them looked at the suit over with wide eyes, and Sora looked over at Kairi.

“ _Holy shit._ ” He breathed. “This is—this is awesome.”

“Yeah, I know.” She nodded, grinning.

Sora turned the suit over in his hands. It was completely black, with loose straps holding down patches of armor. His eyes glimmered in wonder, and Kairi waved at him excitedly.

“Go on, try it on.”

Sora took the suit in his hands, and Kairi shut her eyes, hiding them behind her hands as he got to work stripping down. He pulled the suit on with a lot of fuss, struggling with the fabric with frustrated grunting, and Kairi grinned.

“Shut up, you made it hard to put on on purpose, didn’t you?”

“No, I didn’t.” She replied easily. “Got it up to your shoulders?”

“Kinda,” Sora frowned. “It’s a little loose, though?”

Kairi opened her eyes, and burst out laughing at the sight of Sora—the suit was loose around him, hanging limp like an oversized onesie, and he pouted at her. She shook her head, and patted her chest.

“Over here. Tap it, and it’ll engage.”

Sora did as she told him, and he jumped when it tightened up around him. “Oh!” He gasped, but he smiled when he realized it fit him like a glove. “Wow. This is awesome, Kairi!”

“I know.” She replied, giddy as she bounced in her seat. “Here, take these, too.”

She handed Sora a mask, which he quickly put on. It was more makeshift than the suit she’d made, similarly black, with cut out holes for his eyes that were covered with a pair of modified goggles. He heaved a sigh of relief, regardless, as the world finally quieted down somewhat to a tolerable degree. He jumped when he felt Kairi fasten something to both of his wrists, and he looked down to see a wristband mechanism, with a button to press that extended from the wristband to his palm.

“Press down on the button like this—aim carefully!” Kairi warned, and Sora nodded, aiming at a blank section of the wall, before pressing down on the button on his right palm with his middle and ring finger. A web-like rope shot out of it, and he gasped. “It works!” Kairi cheered, and Sora tugged on it experimentally.

“It’s not budging.” He said incredulously. “Can this take my weight?”

“Absolutely!” Kairi huffed. “I made this _for you,_ y’know! Of course, I’d make it safe!”

Sora pulled his mask off to smile at her, and she beamed back.

“It’s amazing, Kairi. Thanks.” He breathed, “Wow. This is—god, I feel like a superhero.”

“You _are_ one, remember?” She grinned, and Sora grinned back at her. “Before you ask, yes, that’s Kevlar, and yes, I made the web shooters myself too. You’d be surprised at how unsupervised I get in Stark Tower now that I’ve finished touring the labs and now have my own one under Miss Aqua’s labs herself.” Kairi crossed her arms, and raised her hand for Sora to high-five. “Let’s _do_ this, Spider-Man.”

“ _Let’s do this._ ” He agreed, and stuffed his earphones into his ears, tucking his phone into one of the many little pouches on his suit. Sora give her one last grin before he pulled his mask on and give her a high-five. “Don’t forget, I’m on push-to-talk, okay?”

“God, _why though,_ ” she replied, but she gave him a mock salute. “You’re literally the only person using Discord like that.”

“Like the fact we are using Discord to call each other on my patrols isn’t weirder than my call preferences.” Sora rolled his eyes, even if Kairi couldn’t see them. “Ready, Guy in The Chair?”

“Oh, _hell yes._ ” Kairi grinned. “I’ll see you tomorrow at school, Spider-Man.”

“See ya.” Sora gave her a mock salute, and leapt out the window. Kairi watched him go, smiling contentedly, before turning away from it to head outside to greet Ventus goodbye for the evening.

* * *

So their story went. With Kairi in Stark Tower and Sora our in the streets, Queens came to learn of a new protector, a mysterious figure in black that would swing in to help from nowhere, prowling the Queen’s skyline like a shadow in the night. Some blurry pictures on Twitter report some red-eyed cryptid sticking to walls, others report a flying black blur that would shoot down from the sky to take out muggers and thieves at sudden bursts and at random. There were varying stories about this mysterious new superhero protecting Queens beyond the jurisdiction of the Sokovia Accords, but all of them had the same name branded on them—

Queens had a new superhero, a helpful, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

* * *

“That can’t be good.”

Aqua frowned at the hologram in front of her, playing and replaying the CCTV footage she had nabbed off the streets’ cameras, watching the way that Spider-Man swung from one rooftop to another over and over again.

“What can’t be good, Mickey?” She asked, and beside her, her secretary sighed, taking a seat as he took a sip from his tumbler.

“This… Spider-Man.” Mickey said. “The Accords…”

“Don’t.” She said stiffly, and the man looked at her sympathetically. She sighed, and buried her face in her hands. “You don’t have to tell me what’s in them. I was there when they were written.”

He gave her a supportive pat on her shoulder.

“Alright, recap. What do we know about this kid?” Aqua said, sitting up, and Mickey nodded. “Likely a teenager who goes to high school, one with a school day that ends at around 1:45 PM.”

“He’s probably smart, an inventor like you?” Mickey ventured, “He’s got access to some pretty advanced tech.”

“Actually,” Aqua said, “I think what he has on him is Stark tech.”

“Stark tech?” Mickey echoed. “We’ve stopped making weapons _years_ ago!”

“No, that’s not what I meant.” Aqua shook her head. “Look, the tensile strength in those ropes he’s shooting from his wrist—I know I’ve seen numbers like that somewhere, in a substance report to me not too long ago.” She smiled slowly, and Mickey’s eyes widened. “That suit is definitely Kevlar, you’ve seen how it took to bullets in the feed, but it’s clearly not something military-issued. So, where else could it have come from?”

“You don’t think—”

Aqua nodded, smirking slightly. “I think it’s time to talk to our little intern.”

* * *

Kairi winced as she watched Sora turn around in the video feed, looking at the bruise in his side from the gunshot he took head-on. It was around the size of a bullet hole, and it was steadily growing purple. She knew it would disappear in a few hours anyway, but she still couldn’t help but feel bad when she saw it—god, it broke her heart to see Sora get hurt, but he still waved it off and smiled to reassure her about it regardless. In a way, she was grateful for the healing factor that came with Sora’s powers, but there was not one day that went by where she wished Spider-Man could have been anyone else—literally anyone else, as long as it wasn’t one of her best friends.

“ _Don’t worry, it’ll go away soon, I promise._ ” Sora said, “ _Man, you were right, people really were gonna just shoot at me._ ”

“Don’t like it.” She said petulantly, but then the sound of her lab door hissing open made her jump, and she locked her phone screen to whirl around, and her eyes widened to see Miss Aqua stride into the room. Kairi scrambled to hang up on Sora, but she wasn’t sure if she did it properly. Either way, it was too late to check, and she got up onto her feet as the older woman strode into the room, still looking so put-together despite the fact she was wearing a simple, if tattered, tank top, showing off her biceps and the faint glow of the arc reactor on her chest, and a pair of sweatpants. “M-Miss Aqua!”

“Hey,” she greeted, giving Kairi a little smile, and the redhead smiled weakly back at her. “So, how are we doing today? I’m sorry I haven’t been around to see you, I’d been particularly busy on my end.”

“I-I, uh, w-whoa, I,” Kairi giggled nervously, and Aqua gave her a friendly smile. “H-heh. Sorry. A little star struck.”

“Can’t blame you,” she said, and strode up to Kairi, taking a look around her lab. “Just wanted to check up on you. Saw your progress report the other week—what’d you call it again?”

“O-oh! The Stretch-Latex!” Kairi lit up.

“—Web fluid, was it?” Aqua continued, and the teen froze up in her spot, her eyes widening at the tall woman as she picked up a vial of the fluid, inspecting it between her fingers. “Oh, Stretch-Latex. Right.” She chuckled, and looked over at Kairi as she held it up. “May I?”

“Um.”

“I’m going to throw it. Do you have another vial of this?”

“I-I can just make some more,” Kairi replied, and Aqua nodded, before suddenly throwing the vial at the wall beside Kairi’s head with a shout, making the redhead jump and scream in shock. “M-M-Miss Aqua?” She gasped, and the woman nodded, walking up to her to pat her shoulder reassuringly.

“You should work on your reflexes.” The woman chuckled, and Kairi laughed nervously. She gently moved Kairi aside to look at the mess the fluid left on the wall, and hummed approvingly. She gave it a tug, and nodded as she looked at the tensile strength. “This is amazing. Any practical applications for this?”

“W-well, I was thinking, uh…” Kairi blanked out, her heart thundering in her ears, and Aqua turned to look at her, head cocked. She mentally berated herself for stuttering and tripping all over herself, and the woman gave her a kind smile.

“It’s okay, I read your write-up, I was just messing with you.” Aqua laughed, though not unkindly, and Kairi heaved a sigh of relief, feeling her nerves unwind as the blue-haired woman nodded. “So, I heard you got your hands on the Kevlar we have here, too?” She asked, and Kairi stiffened up again. “How’d that go?”

“Oh, I, y’know,” Kairi laughed nervously. “I messed it up. Threw it out.”

“That’s fine,” Aqua replied, and patted Kairi’s shoulder. “But I was wondering what you were planning on doing with it?”

“Well, I…” Kairi rubbed her arm. “I was trying to make… a…” Aqua cocked her head at her, and she swallowed nervously. “A dress.”

“A dress.” Aqua echoed.

“Y-yeah,” Kairi nodded hurriedly. “I-I was gonna—Miss Aqua, you see—um—sorry, the reason is embarrassing…”

“Hey, it’s alright.” Aqua assured her. “Last time I invented something for a stupid reason it was because…” she stopped, and Kairi blinked at her as her expression softened into a more melancholic one. “It was because… one of the Avengers dared me to make a robot who could only ever make fart noises in response to whenever Ter—Lingering Will’s shield wouldn’t obey the laws of physics.”

The two of them fell quiet, and Kairi shuffled on her feet.

“I…”

The redhead hesitated. Oh, she wanted to tell her. She wanted to let Miss Aqua know everything—Aqua was her _hero,_ damn it, and if anything, Sora had everything to gain if he went under her mentoring too.

But.

Aqua was there when the Sokovia Accords were written. Was the first superhero to sign. The only Avenger to enforce it.

When the Accords were put in place, the Avengers disbanded. No one knew where Captain Earthshaker— _Lingering Will—_ went. No one had heard from Emerald Wind and the other agents of SHIELD, every single person that was once on Aqua’s team was gone.

And for good reason—they couldn’t defend the world like this, the Avengers stopped _being_ the Avengers the moment Iron Woman and Captain Earthshaker’s fallout began.

If it _was_ thanks to Aqua—the Accords, all of it, then Sora would also have _everything_ to lose if he went under Aqua’s mentoring.

The papers said the Avengers no longer thought of each other, but the heartbreak in Aqua’s eyes was evident. She missed them—the Avengers, her _family,_ and Kairi could understand how she felt. But the rule of law was absolute, and the world already knew who Iron Woman was, Miss Aqua, CEO of Stark Industries. Aqua’s hands were tied.

Kairi swallowed down her grief.

“My best friends and I were watching a spy flick the other day.” She said, “I just wanted to try making a dress that a superspy or a superhero could use.”

Aqua smiled gently at her for that, and patted her head.

“Sounds about right.” She nodded, “I’m glad to know that you can find inspiration in practically anywhere. First step to being a great inventor.”

“Um,” Kairi began, and Aqua hummed, cocking her head at her. “Do you miss them?” She asked, and the older woman blinked at her. Kairi felt her cheeks grow hot, and she fiddled with the hem of her shirt. “I just—I was wondering if you missed them. Your team. The Avengers. Your…” she fell quiet, and listened to the sound of her thundering heartbeat in her ears.

“My family?” Aqua asked, after a long moment of silence, and Kairi nodded gingerly. The woman smiled sadly, and sighed as she sat down on Kairi’s rolling chair. “More than anything.” She confessed. “Sometimes, I wish—” she stopped herself, and shook her head. “Well, it’s over now, there’s no use in dwelling over the past.” She gave Kairi a smile. “Well, I better go.” She said, “Unless you’ve got a question for me?”

Kairi blinked at her for a moment, and jolted.

“Oh! Right! Um!” She hesitated. “I was wondering if there was some way I could, like, get something a little stronger than Kevlar?” Aqua raised an eyebrow at her, and Kairi hoped the woman wouldn’t see right through her. “Tougher, but like. Soft like fabric still.”

Aqua hummed for a moment, and Kairi bit her lip.

“I think I’ve got some experimental stuff in the archives, something I was making for Emerald Wind before…” She paused, and shook her head. “But I think that’s a bit too advanced for you right now, kid.” Aqua chuckled, and patted Kairi’s head. “Stick to Kevlar for now, okay?”

“What archives?” Kairi asked, feeling sweat bead at her brow, as Aqua cocked her head.

“Oh, just some storage down in the basement.” The woman replied, giving her a dismissive wave. “I’ll see you sometime soon again, okay, Kairi? I have to go.”

“O-of course!” The redhead nodded, and Aqua gave her a wave. She waved back at her quickly, nerves frazzled as the woman stepped out of the lab, the doors hissing shut behind her. She took a shaky breath, and turned back to her phone to see Sora gaping at her. “Did you hear all that?”

“ _I think… I think she’s onto us._ ” He said weakly. “ _She called them web fluids._ ”

Kairi bit her lip. “We have to get that stuff in the basement.” She said, and Sora looked at her uneasily.

“ _You sure?_ ”

“I can’t stand seeing you get hurt all the time, Sora.” Kairi replied, plopping down onto her rolling chair as she went up to her computer, setting her phone down as Sora settled down to sit on his own bed, looking worriedly at her as she began to type. “I’m gonna access the blueprints of Stark Tower. Sora, I’m sorry to ask you of this, but I’m gonna need Spider-Man to get the stuff.”

“ _Kairi, I don’t steal._ ” Sora hissed, and she flinched.

“I know, but if I don’t get that thing Miss Aqua was working on, one of these days, you’re going to encounter something a little stronger than a bullet, and if you get hurt, I know that’ll be on me.”

Sora gaped at her, and Kairi’s expression tightened. “Please.”

“ _Yeah, I understand._ ” Sora said quietly. “ _I’ll help you out. God, we’re breaking into Stark Tower._ ”

“Tell me about it.” Kairi laughed dryly. “I’ll figure it out tonight and tomorrow I’ll let you know what’s up. G’night, Sora.”

“ _Night, Kairi. Don’t stay up too late._ ”

* * *

Aqua smiled to herself, shaking her head as she pushed herself off the door, waving her hand up at the ceiling. “Minnie, put that on the fridge.”

“ _I’ve saved it to your personal files, Miss._ ” The AI replied, and Mickey looked up at Aqua as she began to stride to the elevator, smiling to herself.

“Hey, Aqua, why’re you so happy?” he asked, “They’re going to break into the archives.”

“Basement,” she said, “I said basement.”

Mickey paused, his eyes going wide for a moment, as he made a little ‘oh’ sound.

“It’ll be fine.” Aqua waved him into the elevator with her, chuckling fondly. “It’s been a while, but I still do know how to recruit Avengers with as much flair as Master Eraqus did.”

Mickey laughed softly, and nodded, shrugging helplessly.

“Well, I suppose you’re right.” he agreed, smiling, and the elevator doors slid shut in front of them.

* * *

Sora and Kairi’s heist on Stark Tower took place two days after Aqua visited Kairi. That morning, the two of them were unusually quiet, terrified of what would happen that night, and Riku cocked his head at them as they sat down across him at lunch.

“Am I at a funeral or am I going to get an explanation of why the sunflowers are wilting?” He asked, chuckling slightly, and Kairi and Sora blinked at him in surprise. “C’mon, guys, the two of you are the sunniest people I’ve met. It’s weird that _I’m_ the only one smiling at the table right now.”

Sora looked at him with an unreadable look on his face, and Riku get his cheeks grow warm. “Uh?”

“Sorry,” Kairi shook her head. “I’ve got an evaluation at the Stark Internship tonight.” She buries her face in her hands. “I’ll be out right after this, to prepare and stuff.”

Riku looked at his best friends sympathetically, and nodded.

“Well, when are you gonna get a break from the Stark Internship, Kairi?” He asked, “We could go hang out after your evaluation to take your mind off it.”

“I’d like that.” Kairi smiled slowly, and Riku looked at Sora.

“You—let’s go figure out something for Kairi after school. There’s no decathlon practice today, so I’m pretty free.” He said, and his expression fell when Sora sighed tiredly.

“Sorry,” He said. “Can’t. I’ve got. Something coming up today.”

Under the table, Sora clenched his fists.

“Maybe next time, Riku.”

“Y-yeah, sure.” Riku nodded, but the smile he wore didn’t quite reach his eyes. Sora and Kairi’s hearts ached for him, but neither of them spoke. Sora watched as Riku fell quiet, timidly sipping at his juice box, and took a shaky breath.

This was for Queens, he thought. For the people he cared about, for the people he didn’t know.

This was for his family—Ventus, Vanitas and Roxas. For Midtown High and all his friends.

For Riku, no matter how many times it felt like he kept leaving him alone.

* * *

Sora and Kairi met up at Stark Tower right after school, even if their heist was at 7 in the evening, right when Aqua had a booked meeting until 8, according to the schedule Kairi managed to lift from Stark Tower’s resident AI, Minnie. It was pretty easy to smuggle Sora into the building—the guard and the receptionist at the ground floor were always so eager to finally meet a Kairi’s friends, and so let Sora in without much of a fuss. The moment Kairi’s lab doors slid shut, the two friends went over their plan.

Soon, night fell, and Sora and Kairi looked at each other nervously.

“It’s time.” The redhead said, and Sora nodded.

Sora got up and began shucking his clothes off, revealing the black suit underneath them. Kairi watched him suit up, biting her lip as he finished off by jumping up to latch onto the ceiling.

“We’ll be okay.” She breathed, more for herself than Sora, and the superhero looked down at her to give her a thumbs-up. “Just follow the plan, okay?”

“Roger that.” Sora replied, jumping back down to the ground, and Kairi nodded. “Where’s the elevator shaft entrance?”

“Should be in the men’s. I’ll follow you down after you clear the area.” She replied. Sora gave her a mock salute, and headed outside. He peered down the hallways, and when he confirmed that they were empty, he slipped into the men’s bathroom, looking up at the ceiling to find the panel Kairi told him about a few days ago. He took a deep breath, and jumped up onto the ceiling, gently pushing the panel in to find the ventilation shaft behind it.

Sora looked back at the floor, and sighed.

“Here goes.”

* * *

Halfway across Queens, Riku sat down at his study table, and sighed for the umpteenth time again that afternoon. A large hand landed on his head, and he laughed softly when his hair was ruffled. He pulled away with a halfhearted bat at the hand from his own hand.

“Jeez, Uncle Ansem. Don’t mess that up, worked hard on that.”

“All you do is brush that,” His uncle chuckled, and the man strode past him with a pat on his shoulder. “Studying again? Don’t you have friends to hang out with?”

“They were both busy again today.” Riku replied with a sigh, and his uncle gave him a kind smile, coming to a stop next to Riku’s table to squeeze his shoulder. “It’s fine, they’ve got more important stuff to deal with, I’ll be okay.”

“Hey, they should be paying attention to you too, you know.” Ansem said, and Riku laughed sadly, shrugging as he looked off to the side. “Especially that Sora boy. I know you like him a lot.”

“Shut up.” Riku wrinkled his nose, snorting, and his uncle laughed, pinching his cheek lightly. “Heading out again?”

“Night shifts never rest.” Ansem replied, giving him another pat on his shoulder. “I’ll see you in the morning, Riku.”

“Night, Uncle.” Riku nodded, and the man strode away. Ansem made his way out of their little apartment, and smiled back up at the window where he could see his nephew, back to reading at his desk. The man shook his head fondly, and turned around in time for a white van to drive up to him. He gave the driver a grin, and got in the back, as the van drove into a nondescript alleyway.

* * *

Normally, villains had their amazing, eye-catching entrances. A defining moment of their character that sets the stage for their conflict with the hero.

Not here.

Here, the Vulture was like his namesake—quiet, imposing yet nondescript. There was no dramatic entrance, no horrifying introduction—

Just the singular beat of Chitauri mechanical wings that made the very air tremble, and away the Vulture flew, off to steal another batch of Chitauri tech under the government’s nose.

* * *

Sora crawled along the ceiling of the elevator shaft, and peered into the elevator through the ceiling panel. He grinned slightly to find no one around, and slipped inside, climbing on the ceiling to avoid detection by the CCTV camera on the ceiling. He made his way over to it, gently pressing a little device down on it, and pressed a finger to his ear.

“Bug planted.” He said, and he could hear Kairi’s keystrokes on the other side.

“ _Surveillance footage suspended._ ” He could hear the smile in her voice, and he grinned, dropping down to the ground with a huff. Sora made his way over to the panel and stuck another device on it, waiting patiently as he whistled idly, tapping his foot as he felt the elevator move, until the doors slid open to reveal a wide-eyed Kairi staring at him. He beamed at her, and gave her a thumbs up.

“Kairi, we’re clear.” He said, and she smiled back at him.

“Here goes nothing.” She nodded, and came into the elevator with him.

They stood together in silence as it descended down into the basement of Stark Tower, and when the doors slid open, they took a hesitant breath as they stepped out into a wide, open area that had several boxes collecting dust stacked on top of each other. It stretched out into the darkness beyond them, and the both of them swallowed nervously as Sora held his arm out in front of Kairi to keep her behind him. He prowled forward carefully, his Kevlar suit making not a single sound on the cold concrete floor.

He frowned underneath his mask. Something didn’t feel right.

“Not gonna lie,” Kairi said quietly, “I was expecting something… cleaner.”

**_WATCH OUT!_ **

Sora’s spine tingled, and his eyes widened, whirling around to push Kairi back into the elevator, much to her shock. She screamed at him in fear as her back slammed into the far wall as he fired a web in the doorway.

“ _Sora!_ ” She gasped, as he turned around to look into the darkness, his spine tingling again as he jumped out of the way to see a crate hurtling towards him. His eyes widened when he realized it was heading towards Kairi in the elevator, and he fired a web rope at it, pulling _hard_ to stop it right before it could even come within a foot of the webbing he’d put up in front of Kairi to protect her. He turned around to face the darkness, throwing the crate back into it, and he jumped preemptively when he heard the sound of something sliding across the ground. He leapt out of the way into a flip, landing on his feet with his head cocked when he realized that it had come to a stop right where he used to stand.

It was a metal case, and he blinked at it in alarm.

“Wh-what’s this…?” He mumbled, and in the darkness, he heard a woman’s voice.

“Something to help you fight properly.” Miss Aqua’s voice said, and he jumped in alarm, whirling around as lights suddenly flooded the basement, and Sora realized that the basement was in fact empty, save for Iron Woman herself, standing in front of him. He gaped at her, and she jerked her head at the case. “Open it.”

Sora looked at her cautiously, before turning to look back at the case, cautiously kicking it open. He jumped back when it suddenly hissed, and _shit, damn it, why didn’t his Spidey sense kick in—_

When he realized that a blue and red suit was inside. His eyes widened as he straightened up, gaping at the spider in the middle of its chest, and he looked back at Iron Woman as she strode towards him, tapping at the arc reactor on her chest to disengage her suit. It melted away from her in a flurry of nanobot activity until the CEO herself stood before him, dressed in a tracksuit and smirking down at Sora slightly.

“It’s wonderful to finally meet you, Spider-Man.” She said, offering her hand to him, and Sora looked at her uneasily. “I promise, I’m not here to turn you in.”

“Please, no, don’t, it’s my fault—I’m so sorry, Miss Aqua—”

Sora was suddenly jerked back when Kairi ran up to him, pulling him behind her as she stood between him and Aqua, and the superheroine chuckled fondly as Kairi stood protectively in front of Sora, her arms thrown out on either side of her.

“I let him in, I’m sorry, I just wanted to—” She stammered, but Aqua shook her head, patting Kairi’s hair kindly as she bent down slightly to smile at her. “I’m sorry, Miss Aqua.”

“I purposely led you down here.” She said, and the two teens blinked at her in alarm. Aqua chuckled fondly, and gestured at the suit in the case. “Please, Spider-Man, suit up. I want to see it on you.”

“Um…” Sora said uneasily, sharing a nervous look with Kairi, but she shook her head in defeat, gesturing at the suit. He nodded sheepishly, and got to work suiting up. Aqua watched him work, quiet as Sora stepped out of the Kevlar suit Kairi made for him, not once taking his mask off as he got into the red and blue suit, engaging it the same way as the Kevlar suit did on him. He let out a breath of surprise as it tightened around him, and he looked at Kairi, who had stars in her eyes at the sight of him.

“Oh, wow.” She breathed, beside herself, and Aqua smiled at that. “You… you look like a superhero.”

“I _feel_ like one, definitely.” Sora replied, and looked up at Aqua. “But, um, Miss Aqua, what’s…”

“Here’s your mask,” She said, picking it up from the case, and Sora looked uneasily at her. The woman offered him a kind smile, and held it out for him to take. “I promise, I’ll keep your identity safe.”

Sora hesitated, and Aqua waited patiently for him—

**_WATCH OUT!_ **

Sora jolted, and he grabbed the mask before he jerked forward to yank Aqua down, firing a web shooter over her head, setting up a wall of webbing on the wall before it suddenly began to crumble. Aqua’s eyes widened as she got up onto her feet, pulling Kairi behind her as Sora shot a web rope up at the ceiling, shooting up into the air to head toward the wall just in time for it to crumble completely as Sora darted through the debris. Kairi screamed as she fell flat on the ground, but Aqua simply frowned, engaging her suit again as she turned back to Kairi.

“Go upstairs,” She barked, and Kairi nodded, the redhead scrambling to get up onto her feet and to the elevator. Aqua made sure she was inside the elevator and it shut, trusting its reinforced steel supports to hold as she turned around, her helmet clamping shut before she shot up into the air after Spider-Man.

She was pleased to see Spider-Man was wearing the mask she made him, and she cleared her throat.

“Minnie, patch me through.”

“ _Communicating with the Spider suit._ ”

“Hey, Spider-Man.”

Across her, Spider-Man jolted, and he slammed into a piece of falling debris. Aqua winced, but he was quick to recover, pulling himself back up into the air as he kept swinging alongside Aqua, shooting out of the ground to end up on the wall of Stark Tower, looking up at the clear night sky.

“ _Wh-what—where—where’d that come from?_ ” The boy stammered, and Aqua gave him a wave to catch his attention, coming to a stop in front of him as he clung to the sheer glass face of the Tower. She tapped her ear, and he blinked at her for a moment—good, the visor was working—before he spoke again. “ _I-Iron Woman._ ”

“Hey, Spider-Man.” She greeted again. “I was going to talk to you about something important, but I think we both can see that something else is happening right now.”

“ _Y-yeah, I figured._ ” Spider-Man replied, nodding. “ _I saw him fly up into the sky, I don’t—I’m not sure if Kairi’s web shooters can fly that far—_ ”

“I’ve got it.” She nodded. “Just get to the top of the tower. See if you can intercept him on the way.”

“ _Got it._ ” Spider-Man replied, and began to swing his way up the tower. Aqua shot up to the top on her repulsors, and just as he said, she could see a figure in the sky, wide mechanical wings whirring with alien technology.

Her eyes widened, and for a moment she forgot to speak, until she was jolted out of her shock at the sight of a web rope shooting into the assailant’s wing.

“ _Hell yeah! Lucky shot!_ ” Oh, Spider-Man was still just a child. Something akin to guilt ate at her gut, but she pushed past it, shaking her head.

“Minnie, scan him.” She barked, as she flew up to intercept the winged man, realizing suddenly that he was grunting, shouting in protest as she got closer, and she realized that Spider-Man was holding him down. Aqua looked over her shoulder to see Spider-Man braced on the railing of the roof— _how the hell did he get up there so quickly—_ tugging hard on the web rope with a mighty shout as he held the man down.

“ _He’s flying with Chitauri technology from the 2012 invasion._ ” Minnie reported, and Aqua jerked back to look at the man, a scowl on her face.

“We’d better find out who this bastard is, then, now’s our chance.” She said, gritting her teeth as she shot up towards the man to fire at him with her repulsor blasts. “Spider-Man! Keep a hold of him!”

“ _Y-yes, ma’am!_ ”

“Minnie, I’m going to need you to do a facial recognition scan.” She ordered, and swung at the man, knocking him down towards her tower deck. “Spider-Man! Heads up!”

The teen spluttered, panicking slightly, and much to Aqua’s surprise, began firing webs to form a net above the deck to catch him. The winged man caught onto the sticky webbing, cursing, and Aqua dove at him. He lifted his legs, reinforced talons at his feet grabbing at Aqua, and she shouted in alarm, feeling him slowly start to pull her apart.

“ _Iron Woman!_ ” Spider-Man shouted in alarm, and Aqua felt herself being torn away from the talons, and the world exploded into howls of the wind. She winced, dropping to the ground as she grasped her head in pain, and barely she could make out the sight of Spider-Man launching himself at the winged man, before being thrown aside into her apartment.

Well, she was at least prepared for _some_ damage on her home. Ah, shit.

The winged man cast one last look at them and took off—Aqua made a move to go after him, when the repulsors at her feet sputtered, and gave out. She scowled, looking down to realize that some strange Chitauri device was put on them.

“The hell is this?” She mumbled, but then she was tackled to the ground by Spider-Man.

“Get them off, right now!” He barked at her, and she nodded, immediately disengaging her boots only for Spider-Man to grab them, throwing them far up into the sky, and Aqua’s eyes widened as the memory of that superpowered boy she saw not too long ago came rushing back to her.

“Oh, my god.” She breathed, and then shook her head. “Minnie, RESCUE shields!”

“ _Deploying._ ” Her RESCUE shields came up protectively above them, forming a shield, and her boots exploded above them. She slumped back onto the ground, panting heavily as her shields came back to her, and Spider-Man looked down at her.

“Are you okay, Miss Aqua?” He asked gingerly, as Aqua tapped at her chest to disengage her suit. She sat up, forcing herself to calm down as she looked at the teen, and she gave him a wry smile.

“I’m fine.” She replied. “You’re that kid that stopped the bus, aren’t you?” She asked, and Spider-Man fell still. Aqua couldn’t see his expression behind the mask, but she knew well enough. “Skinny brunet? Blue eyes? Stopped your school bus and warned me about it before it exploded?”

The teen sighed, and finally pulled off his mask to let her see his face, that same frightened one she saw weeks ago. His gaze met hers, and she gave him a kind smile as she offered him her hand.

“Let’s try this again. I’m Aqua. CEO of Stark Industries. I am Iron Woman.”

“Hi.” He said sheepishly, and shook her head. “I’m… I’m Sora. Student at Midtown High, Kairi’s one of my best friends and classmates.” He hesitated, and swallowed nervously. “I’m Spider-Man.”

“It’s wonderful to meet you.” She said, and got up onto her feet. Sora followed suit, scrambling up onto his feet, gingerly holding his mask in his hands as she strode into her penthouse with a sigh. He followed after her, and she looked up at the ceiling as she made her way to the bar to pour herself a shot of scotch. “Minnie, please let Kairi up.”

As if on cue, the elevator doors dinged open, and Sora jolted, turning to see Kairi hurrying out, rushing up to him to pull him into a tight hug. Aqua watched them hold each other, murmuring their worries to each other, and she smiled into the rim of her glass before she took a drink. The two teens turned to look at her, and she straightened up, setting the glass down onto the counter with a sigh.

“Listen.” She said gently, as if anything else she could say would spook the frightened teenagers away. “I’m not angry. I’m not here to turn Sora in to the UN.”

“Miss Aqua, we…” Kairi began, but she shook her head.

“I know what Spider-Man’s been doing. I’m not blind.” She said, “The two of you have been really busy with that vigilante justice stuff, haven’t you?”

Kairi and Sora looked guiltily at their feet, and she chuckled.

“It’s perfect, honestly. Just exactly what I need.”

Sora and Kairi looked at her in alarm, and she gave them both a smirk.

“You see, something’s happening in New York, and my hands are tied from investigating it.” She said, and clasped her hands together as she leaned on the counter with a sigh. “The Sokovia Accords—they’re keeping Iron Woman on the ground. I can’t look into anything that I _know_ are considered threats, and as of yet I still don’t have a permit to look into it. I can’t do anything, as a registered hero in the system.”

Sora blinked at her, his jaw dropping in realization.

“But. Maybe Queens’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man could.” Aqua cocked her head at them, and Kairi and Sora shared shocked looks. “What I’m trying to say is,” she continued, and the teens looked at her. “You saw that guy today. He’s got Chitauri technology, but Homeland Security won’t let me go after him, no matter how many times I’ve proven that missing Chitauri tech is dangerous.”

Sora’s hands balled into fists.

“You’ve seen it yourselves. That day I met the both of you, and your friend, if Sora wasn’t enhanced, the three of you could have died.” She said, “Because some petty thieves got their hands on Chitauri tech, and thought they could take on Iron Woman because of it.”

The three of them fell quiet, and Aqua sighed, shaking her head.

“In fact, I’m facing grounding sanctions right now. I can’t take off, and the fact that I just put my suit on means I’ll be getting a phone call right about—”

“ _A call from Agent Braig, Miss._ ” Minnie reported, and Aqua sighed.

“Stay very, _very_ quiet.” She told the teens, and they nodded. “Put him through.”

“ _So, you just couldn’t resist, could you._ ” A smarmy-looking man in a black suit and an eyepatch appeared on a hologram between her and the two teens, and Kairi and Sora jumped at the sight of him.

“My tower was being ransacked by some asshole in enhanced tech, Agent.” She deadpanned, crossing her arms. “Oh, sure, absolutely just let some idiot criminal destroy my tower and put many more people in danger.”

Braig narrowed his eyes at her. “ _You know you’re on probation._ ”

“Would you rather I let him get away with all my Chitauri tech reserves, then?” She snapped, and the man scowled. “I’ll send over the footage of the attack to prove my innocence. I’m sure _someone_ on the regulatory board still has brain cells, or am I dealing with a bunch of drooling gorillas?”

Braig’s frown was severe, but thankfully he didn’t lash out. “ _Of course not. We’ll get back to you within the week._ ”

“The bastard broke my boots, by the way.” Aqua said. “You won’t be getting more out of me anyway.”

Braig seemed to _leer_ at that, and Aqua narrowed her eyes at him.

“ _As if._ ” He said, “ _Over and out, chrome dome._ ”

“Eat shit and die, scarface.” She muttered, as the call cut. Aqua shook her head, and realized that Kairi and Sora were grinning slightly at her. She laughed softly at that, shaking her head fondly as she relaxed somewhat. “So, you’ve met my handler. Ex-SHIELD, now he’s in homeland security.” She explained. “He’s the one keeping an eye on me.”

“I sure _hope_ he does,” Sora said. “He’s only got just the one eye.”

The two women burst out laughing, and he grinned. Aqua smiled fondly at him, and Kairi elbowed him, grinning, before she turned to look at Aqua.

“He’s not very nice.” Kairi noted, and she laughed wryly.

“Tell me about it.” Aqua replied, shaking her head. “Well, now, I can’t do anything, which was why I wanted to recruit the two of you to investigate the Vulture for me.”

“The… Vulture?” Sora echoed, and she nodded.

“Minnie, pull up all we have on the Vulture.”

“ _Right away, Miss._ ”

Holograms appeared around them, and Aqua gestured for the two teens to scroll through the screens as she spoke.

“There’s this guy—calls himself the Vulture—who’s been scavenging alien tech from homeland security reserves and other places, and reinventing them into weapons. You saw his wings tonight—those were made with 2012 Chitauri tech. I’m sure he’s picked up some stuff from Ultron, too. Sokovia. Hydra. He’s got his paws on everything, and just tonight he tried taking _my_ stuff.”

“He didn’t get anything, though?” Sora asked, “He was empty-handed.”

“Yeah, about that.” Aqua grinned tiredly. “The tech was in the basement, but I’d moved everything out so I could recruit you. The crate you stopped was empty.”

“I knew it,” Kairi breathed. “It moved way too quickly…” She paused, “What about the other junk we saw? We were definitely sure there was stuff around.”

“Holotech.” Aqua replied, waving a hand at her dismissively. “Useful, unless you have cancelling lenses like the ones I’ve installed in your new suit.” Sora jumped when she looked at him, and he looked down at his mask, at the rest of the suit on him. He deflated slightly, and took a deep breath.

“Miss Aqua, I…”

“I’m sorry.” She said, and the teens fell quiet. “I know it’s wrong of me to ask this of you.” Aqua turned away from them, deflating slightly. “But I don’t have a choice. The Avengers are gone. Some of them branded war criminals. I don’t have anyone else to turn to, except you.”

She looked at Sora, who felt his heart ache for her.

“A few years ago, I let my guilt get the better of me.” She said, “Now that I should be doing something, I _can’t._ What if something goes wrong, what if more people get hurt, and it’s because I didn’t do anything?”

Sora’s eyes widened at her.

“That means—that’d mean—”

“It’d be on you.” He said quietly, and Kairi looked at him. Aqua looked at him, and smiled sadly. “I… I know the feeling.”

He looked at the mask in his hands, and thought about Queens. About his brothers in his apartment, about Kairi beside him, about Riku—

Riku, who would be in so much danger, with this Vulture out in the streets, in the skies—

Riku, who would be in so much danger, if Sora didn’t _do something._

“I can help.” Sora said. “I want a home to come back to, people I want to protect.” He met Aqua’s tired gaze with determination, and the exhausted superhero finally smiled. “Miss Aqua, Spider-Man will help.”

“Thank you.” She sighed, running a hand through her hair. “Thank you _so much._ ”

* * *

It wasn’t the first time that a genius billionaire philanthropist sought out the help of Spider-Man in a moment of desperation and fear. Lost, alone and worried about the greater good, drowning in guilt, it was the proverbial straw that broke the iron camel’s back, and soon Spider-Man found himself Iron Woman’s secret arm seeking out and stopping the grassroots of the results of the Vulture’s actions.

So the rest of Sora’s story went, for some time, stopping crime in Queens, in any other burg in New York. If he wasn’t spying on criminals for Miss Aqua, he was doing his own patrols during the night to keep Queens safe, while cringing at ignorant headlines the next day.

Spider-Man, for the most part, was widely accepted in Queens. Sure, he broke some gutters, smashed some windows, dented fences (a _lot_ of them, sorry), but he was overall a helpful individual to the community. The UN was up in arms about him, of course, what with the Sokovia Accords in place, but Iron Woman had been utterly silent about this new superhero, always stating she had no clue about him or his identity, even when he’d help save her tower that night it got attacked.

For the most part, when Sora ran into regular citizens as Spider-Man, a lot of them just wanted to take selfies with him. He indulged them, of course, and sometimes, he waved at people as he swung on by.

It was fun, really, being a secret celebrity, and it was a good thing Kairi knew how to keep her mouth shut about it.

Well—it _was_ fun, until he thought about the _other_ type of people who had opinions about him.

There were some people who weren’t too keen on a vigilante superhero, voicing some pretty valid concerns, honestly, but it didn’t fail to frustrate Sora to hear them complain about Spider-Man, regardless.

“ _I mean, don’t they see the stuff we’re doing?_ ” Kairi ranted one night while Sora was on patrol. “ _This is for them, damn it!_ ”

He never really thought much about it, at least until one fateful afternoon.

* * *

Homecoming was coming soon, and Riku had been assigned as the committee head. Kairi and Sora tagged along to committee meetings when they could, and they were eventually considered unofficial officials of the homecoming committee.

The meetings mostly consisted of teenagers giggling about some stupid shit or the other, but Riku did manage to get things done anyway, and Sora reasoned maybe that was why the older teen was chosen for his role.

He was almost glad for it, really. More responsibilities for Riku meant he would miss Sora and Kairi less when they left to do superhero stuff, but he couldn’t help but feel awful when he saw the dark circles under Riku’s eyes.

So, he did what he could, and supported Riku when he needed it. That afternoon, the meeting had died down to comfortable chit-chat after they finalized the dance playlist, and Kairi had taken to watching the news headlines from her Twitter timeline on her phone. 

“ _Queens’s resident vigilante superhero, Spider-Man—_ ”

“You know, I think that Spider-Man is a total tool.”

The whole meeting room fell quiet, and the news report on Kairi’s phone kept playing, the reporter’s voice a tiny little sound that barely made a dent in the silence that fell around the students at the table. Riku frowned slightly, crossing his arms as the other teens straightened up, and Kairi coughed delicately, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

“Um?” She ventured.

“I said what I said.” Riku said, crossing his arms, and the rest of the table looked at him witheringly. He rolled his eyes, and shook his head. “Look, the Sokovia Accords existed for a reason—”

“Yeah,” Xion snorted, “To put a leash on well-meaning heroes who just want to protect us all.”

Riku looked at her witheringly, and Kairi deflated.

“ _Vigilantism_ is what’s putting us in danger.” He said, “That’s why Miss Aqua herself is the one who supported the Accords.”

Sora pouted to himself, and Riku’s eyes turned to him. “You agree with me, right, Sora?”

Kairi shot Sora a look, and the brunet laughed nervously.

“Well, I mean,” He said, “I’m sure she was supportive for them for a reason?”

Riku frowned slightly at that, and Sora withered slightly. Mercifully, he didn’t say anything, and sighed, tapping his pen on his desk. “Jeez, guys. Spider-Man is dangerous, or are you all still just way too excited to see superheroes? What, like Iron Woman’s really all that when she actually _does_ show up?”

“Riku.” Kairi said softly, and the teen winced.

“Oh, shit. Kairi—oh, I’m sorry.” He sighed, running his hand through his hair, and the rest of the table shared nervous looks. “I—uh. Ugh.”

“Maybe we should take a break today.” Sora said, and they all looked at him. He tried not to blush at the sight of Riku’s grateful smile at him, and beamed. “We did a lot today anyway. Homecoming isn’t for another month or so, so we can take it easy for now.”

“Sora’s right.” Naminé agreed, “We should all pack up and head home early today.”

With several mutters of agreement, the homecoming committee broke up for the day, and it wasn’t long until the room was empty, save for Sora, Riku and Kairi. The eldest of the three had his hand thrown over his eyes as he leaned back in his seat the whole time the rest of the room packed up, and by the time silence filled the space between them again, he had lifted his head to look at his best friends.

“Kairi, I’m really sorry. I really am.” He said, and she gave him a kind, understanding smile.

“I know.” She replied, squeezing his wrist as Sora came over, settling down on the seat next to Riku to sit with the backrest in front of him. Kairi gave Sora an apologetic smile, and the brunet shrugged easily, patting Riku’s shoulder. “You didn’t mean it. I know your uncle has issues with Miss Aqua and Stark Industries, it’s totally understandable.”

Riku sighed, and straightened up. “It’s just—Uncle’s been. Worse, lately.”

Sora and Kairi shared nervous looks.

“I dunno what’s wrong—something about his job, probably.” The teen shook his head. “He’s been really angry about Spider-Man lately, and I can’t help but feel the same way for him.”

Sora frowned slightly at that.

“I just—I dunno,” Riku sighed. “I’ve been pretty stressed out lately.”

Kairi jumped suddenly, and Sora’s heart sank when she looked at her phone.

“Um,” Kairi began, “I’m sorry, Riku, I need to go. It’s Miss Aqua.” She abruptly got onto her feet, and bolted out the door before either boy could get a word in edgewise.

“Is she… okay?” Riku ventured, and Sora laughed nervously as he felt his phone started buzzing in his pocket.

“I think, um,” He said, peering at it to see Kairi had texted him— _meet me at Stark Tower ASAP_ —and he sighed. So much for hanging out with Riku today. “Girl problems? Uh, menopause?”

“Uh… huh.” Riku nodded slowly. He gestured at Sora’s phone. “Is that… um…”

“Oh! Uh…” Sora winced. He hated lying, most of all, to _Riku,_ but he had no choice. “Sorry. It’s from Ven. I gotta go, too.”

 _It’s all for your sake,_ he thought. _Even if you think I’m a tool for it._

“It’s okay.” Riku smiled sadly, sighing as he sat back in his seat. Sora deflated at the sight of him so _sad,_ and he reached out to squeeze Riku’s hand.

“Promise,” He said. “Tomorrow, we’re going to hang out.” Riku’s smile softened at that, and Sora smiled back at him. “No student council, no annoying big brothers, no asshole superheroes. Just me and you. The training mats.”

“Crepes, after?” Riku asked, and Sora nodded.

“Crepes, after. I’ll even treat you to an extra one just to see you stuff both in your mouth like a loser.”

Riku finally laughed at that, and Sora felt like his heart could _sing_ at how lovely Riku sounded.

“Yeah, okay, I can dig it.” He replied, holding his hand out for Sora to take. “Take care. Go see what Ven wants.”

Sora beamed at him, and took his hand, before the two of them got into their little secret handshake, ending it with leaning close for a tight hug.

“I’m really sorry you’re stressed out,” Sora murmured into Riku’s ear, and the older teen squeezed him tightly. “If you ever need help, I—”

He hesitated, and thought of Vulture.

“I’ll help, okay? You can count on me.”

“I know I can.” Riku replied shakily, and Sora pulled away from him. The older teen gave him a shaky smile, the corners of his eyes shimmering with tears he wouldn’t shed—at least, not yet—and Sora almost wanted to stay. To damn everything to all hell, to tell Riku how he felt, who he was—

But he had a job to do. Miss Aqua was counting on him and Kairi.

New York was counting on Spider-Man.

“I’ll see you later, Riku.” He said quietly, and Riku nodded, letting Sora’s hand finally go. The teen hesitated, but he eventually wrenched himself away from Riku, turning to head outside—

“By the way,” Riku said, and Sora whirled around to look at him, wide-eyed. “It’s _menstruation,_ not menopause.”

“Oh,” Sora blinked. “Guess I forgot.”

Riku laughed fondly at that, and Sora smiled at him gently.

“Go on. Get going, your message looked urgent.” The older teen said, and Sora nodded, turning to head outside again, this time a bit surer of himself. He made a sharp turn into the stairwell heading upstairs towards the roof and headed upstairs, skipping steps along the way.

He stepped out into the orange light of the evening sun, breathing heavily as the wind howled around him, and it was easy to blame the constricting feeling in his chest on the thin air. Easy to dismiss the watering of his eyes on the wind blowing into them.

Sometimes, it sucked to be Spider-Man.

Sometimes, he wished he wasn’t the superhero, that he was just some hapless bastard standing on the sidelines while someone else wrecked shit saving other people.

He looked back at the closing roof door, and took a shaky breath.

But he was the one who got bitten by that damn spider. The one who could help, who _should._

He was the only one who could protect his treasured people, like his family, his friends.

Riku.

Sora squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head as he got to suiting up.

He had a job to do, after all.

* * *

It didn’t take long for them to pinpoint a weapons deal location, on the day of a school outing, no less.

* * *

Sora watched the way Riku’s hair fluttered in the breeze as the two of them stood at the railing of the ferry, sighing dreamily as the older teen smiled out at the horizon, holding his hair back by his ear as they sailed away from the port. He smiled softly to himself as Riku turned to look at him to point at something again, but he jolted when Riku’s smile slid off his face.

“God, in the sunlight, it’s even more obvious.” He said, reaching forward to brush his fingers against the blooming bruise on Sora’s cheekbones, and Sora tried not to blush or jerk away from Riku’s hand, shrugging noncommittally as he laughed nervously. “You’re not usually this clumsy.”

“Yeah, well, it’s totally a one-off thing.” Sora said easily, but Riku looked at him worriedly, pulling his hand away, and only then could Sora breathe. The brunet leaned against the railing with a laugh hiccupping along his sigh, and bumped his shoulder against Riku’s. “It’ll go away in no time, I promise.”

The particularly nasty bruise came from an encounter with the Vulture that early morning, while he chased the man away from a transport convoy of Chitauri tech from DC to New York. He’d only barely managed to make it to the ferry trip, barely awake, thanks to the help of Mickey and his superior driving skills along the mostly-barren roads of Queens at 5 in the morning. Riku had noticed his exhaustion first, and invited him to go sunbathing on the roof deck to clear their heads.

“I guess…” Riku said, trailing off as he leaned against Sora’s shoulder, and the brunet tried not to grin like a fool at the sensation. “I’ve just been thinking…”

“That’s a dangerous thing,” Sora said, and Riku snorted. “I’m serious! Last time you did that, you handed all those other schools their asses in the academic decathlon!” He elbowed Riku, and the older teen burst out laughing. Sora couldn’t help but smile at him, his heart swelling with emotion as Riku mellowed out into snickers behind his hand.

“Shut up, you doofus.” Riku shook his head fondly. “As I was saying, I’d been thinking.”

“Yeah?” Sora asked, grinning at him. “About what?”

“About you.”

Sora’s grin slid off his face as his heart shot to his throat, his head feeling way too large and way too small all of a sudden, his cheeks growing hot as Riku looked back at him, expression serious.

“M-me.” He stammered.

“You’ve been disappearing here and there again and again, and I see new bruises and injuries on you all the time, Sora.” Riku said, and Sora blinked at him, unable to process his words when his mind had completely stopped.

_Riku’s been thinking about me!_

“I’m worried about you.” He said, squeezing Sora’s elbows, looking into his eyes as the younger teen gaped at him. “All these unexplained injuries, the late nights, always disappearing, Sora, is there something you’re not telling me?”

“I…” Sora gaped at him, and suddenly Kairi spoke in his earpiece.

“ _I’ve got a visual on the Vulture’s guys. Get down here._ ”

God _damn_ it.

“I…”

Riku blinked at him, his brow furrowing at him in confusion. “Sora?”

“I…”

Sometimes, being Spider-Man _downright sucked._

“I need to go take a dump.” He said intelligently, and Riku blinked at him owlishly. Sora yanked himself away from Riku’s hold, and bolted away.

“Damn it, damn it, _damn it,_ ” Sora hissed, running into the bathroom to shrug his clothes off, stuffing them into a little bag he’d yanked out of his backpack before throwing his backpack into it, too. He threw it out of the window as he suited up, yanking his mask on with a curse as his own suit AI came to life. Outside, his bag hovered on a drone that emerged from its front, and flew back off to Sora’s apartment.

“ _Good afternoon, Sora._ ” Jiminy greeted, as Sora grumbled, slipping out the window to walk along the side of the ferry wall.

“Good freaking afternoon.” He replied, and he could hear Kairi laughing in his ears. “Shut up, Kairi.”

“ _You need to take a dump! A dump! Oh, my god!_ ” She howled, and he could hear the rustle of food wrappers on her lap. “ _That’s so funny! You’re lucky Riku’s our best friend or this would have been the worst date ever!_ ”

“We weren’t on a _date!_ ” Sora hissed, climbing up to the marker Kairi had put on the map, ducking behind a wall when he heard the sound of voices. He hissed quietly, tapping at his chest. A little spider drone flew out from the insignia on his chest, and it flew out to let him and Kairi listen in to the conversation.

“ _They’re definitely selling Chitauri weapons._ ” Kairi hissed. “ _Miss Aqua might want to see this._ ”

“You know,” Sora mumbled, crawling closer to the group to watch them, squinting as he watched two unfamiliar men hand another four men large Chitauri-enhanced weapons. Another man stood by and watched, but Sora couldn’t see most of his identity, hidden underneath a beanie and standing off to the side where all he could see was the man’s feet. “Why doesn’t Miss Aqua just… I dunno, try to get the Sokovia Accords abolished?”

“ _Gee, might be because she was the one who wrote ‘em?_ ” Kairi deadpanned, and Sora rolled his eyes.

“It’s a law, laws can be abolished.”

“ _Wooow. Big words from Spider-Man himself._ ” Kairi drawled, and Sora scoffed. The sound of his voice caught the attention of the men, and he hissed out a curse, ducking down out of sight, but he could hear them heading towards him. He shook his head, gritting his teeth as he jumped up towards a higher deck—

And heard the sound of screaming.

He whirled around mid-jump to realize that the entire roof deck had seen Spider-Man—

 _Including_ Riku, who was gaping at him, right in front of his face. Sora stumbled over himself, stammering stupidly has he completely missed the wall of the boat, falling flat on his face on the car deck where the transaction was being held. He groaned, getting up slowly to realize that six large men were gathered around him, all armed with something dangerous-looking, and he laughed sheepishly, wiggling his fingers at them in greeting.

“Hey, fellas!” He beamed. “Thought, uh, I heard there was some funky business going on around here!”

“ _Oh, my god._ ” Kairi breathed, as Sora turned around, catching footage of all their faces for her to record. “ _Minnie gave me a match on one of the guys. Homeland security acquisition officer? What the—_ ”

“You don’t know what you’re messing with, Spider-kid.” One of them said, and Sora turned to look at him, arms akimbo.

“ _Wow,_ rude!” He tutted, “Even Iron Woman herself calls me Spider-Man, c’mon!”

They all cocked their guns, and Sora tutted.

“See here, we don’t need guns out, it’s not even summer!”

**_WATCH OUT!_ **

His Spidey sense kicked in, and he jumped out of the way as two men dove at him suddenly. He latched onto the ceiling and fired webs at them, knocking them back and trapping them against each other to the wall.

“Get him!” One of them helpfully ordered, and Sora rolled his eyes as he dropped on top of another one, riding his shoulders with a laugh as he struggled to throw Sora off him.

“Yeehaw!” He crowed, riding the man with a cheer as he yanked the man around to smack another man in the side with his weapon, before getting up to jump off his shoulders, firing webs at him to root him to the ground. His senses tingled again, and he jumped high up into a backflip, dodging an assailant heading for him from behind, and he threw a web rope at the man, landing silently on the ground as the man grabbed the rope, wide eyed.

“This is gonna hurt a little,” Sora said, and _yanked_ the man into his accomplice, knocking the both of them into a parked car to knock them unconscious instantly. He winced, and shrugged. “Okay, a lot.” He looked around, replacing the cartridges on his web shooters as he counted the people around him. “Huh. One, two, three… four. Five.”

His Spidey senses tingled, and unseeing, he fired at somewhere behind him at the parked cars, frowning in thought before he heard his web grenade deploy and a man shout.

He grinned. “Six. Where’s the lucky number seven?”

**_WATCH OUT!_ **

His spine tingled again, and he whirled around just in time to see those Chitauri wings flying at him again. His eyes widened, ducking down to realize that the Vulture was there, and he mentally berated himself as he dove out of harm’s way.

Sora gaped up at the man as he whirled around, aiming a large cannon-like gun at him. For a moment, Sora forgot where he was, who he was—

Suddenly, he was just a normal teenager again, staring down the barrel of a gun that could take out an entire city block. Suddenly, he was the boy he used to be so many weeks ago, fearing for his life in his crush’s arms as the very same technology threatened his life.

His heart shot to his throat.

“Spider-Man.” The man growled, and Sora’s blood turned to ice.

Why did he feel so… _familiar?_

His enhanced vision let him see the Vulture’s eyes through his goggles—angry, burning amber that felt like he was staring right into the brimstones and fire of Hell itself, and Sora felt all his courage flee him.

Something was wrong. Something was very, _very_ wrong.

Those eyes would haunt him, haunt him for a long, long time, until he knew who owned them.

“This has gone on for long enough.” He cocked his gun, and Sora’s Spidey senses began screaming again.

**_GET OUT OF THERE!_ **

Oh, how they screamed, but he couldn’t move. Rooted to the ground, overwhelmed with fear, the stimulation from his ringing ears, his screaming senses—

“ _Spider-Man!_ ” He heard Riku’s voice scream, and just like the time the proverbial bucket of water dunked his powers on him, the world stopped.

He could see Riku practically leaning over the railing, just almost falling right off with the right gust of wind, looking at him wide-eyed, panting heavily.

“Giving up already?” He shouted, “I thought you were stronger than that!”

Sora jolted, and just like that, he was torn back to reality. He whirled around, shooting a web forward to clog the barrel of the Chitauri gun. Above him the crowd cheered, but Sora’s focus sharpened into a singular point.

Riku. He had to protect Riku.

He yanked _hard_ on the gun, and Vulture growled, pulling back as hard as he could, his wings beating as he tried to fly away, but Sora dug his heels into the ground, shouting in effort as pulled at the gun as hard as he could.

“Hands off!” The man bellowed, voice garbled by a modulator on his respirator, and sliced at Sora’s webbing with his wings. “Don’t mess with things you don’t understand, kid.”

Sora flew back, ricocheting into the wall with a shout, and the man cocked his blaster.

“Spider-Man!” The crowd above him screamed, and Sora leapt up high, shooting his web right at the Vulture, but his Spidey senses suddenly screamed.

**_IT’S TOO LATE!_ **

Sora’s eyes widened, and he fired a web rope behind him. He felt someone _yank_ him aside, and he flew off to the side, slamming _hard_ against the side of the boat just in time for the blaster to go off, cutting right through the middle of the ferry. Sora’s eyes widened, and he scrambled over to the top deck to see Riku looking at him, eyes wild and wide, holding onto the rope webbing that had stuck his hands together.

“Spider-Man,” he breathed, and Sora could only give him a nod, tossing him a cartridge of web fluid solvent almost apologetically, before firing off another pair of web ropes on the edge of the cut the blaster cannon made, jumping down to survey the damage.

“Kairi, what’ve we got?” He said urgently, and he could hear her panicked breathing as her footsteps echoed in his ears. “You okay?”

“ _Y-yeah, I’m fine!_ ” She choked, and he heard a door slam behind her. “ _O-okay, um… oh, shit. The boat’s torn clear in half. I don’t think there are any casualties, but you’d better move fast._ ”

“Got it.” Sora dove out into the growing rift between the two sides of the boat, firing web grenades across the space as he swung back and forth between the two halves. He could see a path Kairi began plotting out in his visor, and he grinned slightly, firing a web rope up at a railing pole to swing up, slinging himself up high into the air to fire six more shots along the top deck—three on either side of the ship, before leaping off the pole into the mess of screaming people, and falling debris. He slowly realized what pattern he was making, and grinned widely under his mask as he began to weave a massive cat’s cradle of webs between the two sides of the collapsing ship.

He could hear cheering from either side, and his grin widened as he made the last shot at the organized tangle of webs above his head, swinging around them over and over until they bunched together, and he pulled _hard_ on it with a mighty shout.

The boat groaned around him, creaking as it slowly began to close on him, and his grin widened—

**_IT’S GONNA SNAP!_ **

He whirled around to look at a lower deck, eyes wide just in time to see one of his webs fall away from place. He gasped, and fired a web rope at a nearby to attach to the rope he was holding, making a pulley that relied on the boat’s weight to pull both sides down closer to each other.

Sora dropped down to where the rope snapped—

**_IT’S GONNA SNAP! IT’S GONNA SNAP! IT’S GONNA SNAP!_ **

His Spidey sense suddenly sharpened into startling, head-splitting clarity, and Sora groaned, wincing as he fought to focus himself properly. His web ropes were snapping, he had to get as much as he could into his hands.

He launched himself all over the boat, grabbing as many as he could in his hands before pulling them close by his own sheer strength, letting out a shout of effort as he felt his muscles and Spidey senses screaming at him.

Oh, it hurt. It was excruciatingly painful, but if he let go now, then hundreds of people would die—

**_WATCH OUT!_ **

Sora’s eyes snapped open— _when had he closed them?_ —to realize the Vulture was flying right at him.

Oh, shit—he’d almost forgotten about him.

“You’re finished, kid.” The man leered, and Sora felt his world explode into a fine point of excruciating pain—

And then the world turned black.

* * *

Sora woke up to the sound of a heart rate monitor, and the first thing he thought was—

“Where’s Riku?” He asked, and was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Miss Aqua looking down at him, her eyes welling with tears, and he blinked up at her. He tried to sit up, but she kept him lying down, a firm hand on his shoulder. “Miss Aqua? What happened?”

“You’re done.” She said quietly, voice barely a tremble, and Sora blinked at her, before jerkily shaking his head.

“Wh—wh—no! I’m not done, I—” Sora struggled against her hold, but she shook her head, firmly keeping him down. “Miss Aqua, please, I—I messed up, but I—”

“No, Sora. _I_ messed up.” She said, and Sora fell still, looking up at her in horror. Aqua tore her eyes away from him, rubbing her arm. “I shouldn’t have sent you out there.”

“But Miss Aqua, I could have—I—” Sora stopped. “What happened to the ferry?” He asked quietly.

“I had to put the suit on again and save it.” She replied. “Everyone’s fine. Your friends are back at home, and your brothers know that you’re here. They went to see you earlier today.”

Sora gaped at her, his jaw dropping open and shut, unsure of what to say.

Aqua dropped her head into her hands, taking shaky breaths.

“I’m so—you deserve the truth.” She said, and pulled his blanket down to let him see his left arm. Sora looked down, and saw nothing out of the ordinary, blinking as he cocked his head at it. “Looks good as new, doesn’t it? You’re lucky Kairi caught it and we got it back on in time. The healing factor doesn’t hurt to help, either.”

Sora froze. “What?” He asked.

Aqua winced. “While you were trying to keep the ferry together, the Vulture attacked you. He…” She took a shaky breath. “He took your arm off, Sora. From halfway through the bicep, ripped right off as he tackled you.”

Sora gaped at her, his blood going cold.

“Kairi—is a little traumatized, I’m so sorry, but she managed to catch it. By then, I’d gotten the ferry back in shape and chased the Vulture away, and I had to whisk you away to the hospital while the feds came to take care of the rest of the boat.” She explained. Sora looked down at his hand, and tried to wiggle his fingers. They barely responded, just the slightest of moment, and Aqua looked at him apologetically. “The doctors said they think it’ll take a while for it to be back to normal. I’d give it a month, maybe less, considering your healing factor.”

“If… if I didn’t have the healing factor, would that have…”

“You might not have gotten your arm back.” Aqua replied, and Sora fell quiet. She sighed, taking a seat next to him gingerly, and Sora turned to look at her, expression haunted. “Sora, I am so, so sorry. I’m taking you off the superhero work.”

His eyes widened at her, and he jolted back out of his shock.

“W-wait, what do you—Miss Aqua, no—”

“I’m taking the suit back. Indefinitely.” She said sternly. “What was I _thinking,_ putting a kid like you in danger, I—”

“Miss Aqua, please, I know I can handle it, please, don’t—don’t take my suit away, I—I can’t protect the guy I really like without it!”

“No, Sora.” Aqua snapped, and Sora jolted, falling still. “Now you can’t protect the guy you really like _because_ of it. It’s _my_ fault you got hurt like this.” She sighed, hiding her eyes behind her hand. “Hundreds of people could have died today. That—that was on you. On _us._ ”

She took a shuddering breath.

“And—and if Queens had lost you,” She said, “If _I_ lost you, if you _died,_ Sora…” Aqua wiped at her eyes in frustration. “I feel like that’s on me.”

Sora blinked at her, tears rolling down his face unbidden.

“I’m sorry.” She whispered, and wiped at his cheeks, her own cheeks wet with emotion. “When you get discharged, go home. Live the life of a normal teenager. You don’t deserve any of this.”

“I…” Sora’s voice was a hoarse whisper. “But I’m… Spider-Man.”

“Not anymore.” Aqua said, getting up, and she kissed his forehead gently. “Now, you’re just Sora. Student at Midtown High, a normal teenage boy living a normal teenage life.” She cupped his face in her hand, looking up at him sympathetically. “Stay safe. Forget about all this.”

Sora deflated, and Aqua tore her eyes away from him as she straightened up, straightening out her aquamarine three-piece suit. “You get discharged tomorrow morning. I’ll find Vulture myself. If there’s anyone else that should get hurt, it’s me, and no one else.”

She stepped out of the room, and Sora buried his face in his hands, bursting into tears.

* * *

Here’s a fun thought exercise.

If you took a spider’s webbing away from him, is he still a spider, after that?

If you took Spider-Man’s world away from him, is it still the world he promised to protect?

If Spider-Man was not Sora, and Sora was not Spider-Man, would the world still be the same?

Would this still be Spider-Man, in another world, another time, or was this just the beginning of something bigger?

* * *

“I can’t believe you managed to escape that ferry attack with just a fractured arm,” Riku said, as he and Sora walked together along the corridors, and Sora laughed dryly, looking at the cast that was put on bicep on the way out of the hospital. “When is the cast coming off?”

“Oh, by this weekend.” Sora replied honestly. “I… I can’t believe it, either.”

The healing factor worked like a miracle. After he cried himself to sleep the night Aqua left him, he woke up the next morning with the feeling back in his fingers— _and a lot of screaming,_ the stuff was _painful_ —but his bone had mostly healed over, and his muscles and nerves stitched back together, good as new.

Riku nodded. “God, I don’t know how I escaped with my _life._ ”

“Spider-Man, duh.” Xion piped up, walking past them, bumping her shoulder slightly against Riku’s, and the older teen laughed as she ran past him. Sora looked up at Riku, who tucked his hair behind his ear with a nervous laugh, and Sora blinked up at him.

“Did you…” He said slowly. “Did you get a haircut?”

“Oh,” Riku ran his hand through his hair, and Sora realized it really _was_ shorter. He hadn’t noticed that morning, too preoccupied with hugging the hell out of Kairi and Riku the moment he saw them, before they were all swept into their classes. Kairi had left to go see Miss Aqua—she wasn’t pulled out from superhero duty, now playing the guy in the chair for Miss Aqua—leaving Sora and Riku alone together for the rest of the day. “Yeah, I did. I had it cut.”

“Why? Thought you liked your hair the way it was?” He asked, and Riku laughed sheepishly.

“Yeah, well, when the blaster tore the ferry in half it sheared half of it off, so I had it cut properly.” He replied, rolling a lock of his hair between his fingers, and peered at Sora. “Do you like it?” He asked, almost sheepishly, and Sora gave him a sad smile.

“Yeah, I do.” He said, “Short suits you too.”

Riku laughed softly, and they turned a corner, the both of them smiling slowly at the sight of their homecoming banners coming up to hang on the walls.

“Homecoming’s this weekend.” Sora said softly. “I… I almost forgot.”

“Yeah, well, the committee missed you and Kairi,” Riku said, “But we did get some stuff done without you guys fooling around.” Sora laughed at that, and he didn’t miss the way Riku’s eyes softened on him.

“So, uh, I guess you, uh,” Sora waved at the banner. “Got a… date? For homecoming?”

“Actually, no.” Riku replied, smiling shyly, and Sora blinked at him, as he averted his gaze slightly away from Sora, and the brunet felt his heart _soar._ “In fact, I… uh. Well, I’ve just been so busy that I haven’t really asked around, but also…” He looked back at Sora, his eyes glittering hopefully, and Sora’s heart shot to his throat. “I’d been saving the spot. For someone who’d. Ask.”

He peered at Sora, and the brunet swallowed nervously.

“So, uh, if I—if I asked, would you…” He stammered, and Riku nodded slowly. “Oh, my gosh.” He laughed nervously, running his hand through his hair. “I—I, oh. Oh, wow.”

“Yeah.” Riku laughed nervously, too, and Sora couldn’t stop smiling.

“I like you.” He admitted quietly, and Riku looked back at him hopefully. “Riku, I. I really, really like you.” Sora took a deep breath, “Will you go to homecoming with me?”

“Yes.” He breathed, and Sora beamed, biting his lip as Riku took his uninjured hand. “Yes, Sora. I’d love to.”

“Great. Guess—guess it’s a date.” He laughed deliriously. “That’s. That’s the best thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Me too.” Riku practically _giggled_ nervously, and Sora laughed helplessly. “Guess that’s settled, huh. Wh-what do you wanna do this afternoon?”

“Let’s get a crepe,” He smiled, and Riku’s smile widened, his cheeks dimpling. “Does that—sound good?”

“Yeah, sounds great,” Riku said, and he squeezed Sora’s hand in his. “Let’s—let’s go.”

The both of them walked along the corridor, practically blooming in a haze of joy, and for the first time in his life, Sora was grateful he wasn’t Queens’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

* * *

“ _I’m sorry for pulling you out on the night of your homecoming._ ”

“It’s okay.” Kairi mumbled, pulling her knees up to her chest on her rolling chair as she kept an eye on Aqua’s vitals. “It’s not like anyone asked me to go with them, and besides, this is more important.”

“ _Still, I’m sorry. I know how important these events are to kids like you._ ”

Kairi’s smile was sad. “Yeah, well. There’s always next year.”

They fell quiet for a long moment, and the redhead sighed.

“Miss Aqua?” Kairi asked gingerly, curling up on herself on the rolling chair as she hugged a plush Spider-Man close to her chest. Beside her on the table, a bag of chips lay forgotten, and a fruity blended drink stood perspiring next to her water tumbler. Across the line, the superheroine hummed in acknowledgement, and Kairi peered at Iron Woman’s progress. About 15 miles to the target. “I was just… thinking about Sora.”

“ _Spider-Man is retired, Kairi. Let him go._ ”

Kairi winced. “I’m sorry, I just—he didn’t mean it. He didn’t mean to mess up. It was the Vulture’s fault; everything was falling apart and he—”

“ _I know._ ” Aqua said, voice faltering, and Kairi’s heart sank for her. “ _That’s exactly why he should stay the hell away from the frontline. You were there, Kairi. You saw him lose his arm, if anything, I should be grounding you, too._ ”

Kairi flinched.

“ _But I can’t, because I need my guy in the chair, and Mickey’s busy keeping Stark Industries afloat._ ” She sighed. “ _That’s why you’re in there right now where I know you’ll be safe._ ”

The redhead teen sighed, and jumped when Minnie suddenly spoke up.

“ _Incoming video message from Agent Braig._ ” She reported, and Kairi bit her lip.

“ _Play the message, but don’t send him a read receipt._ ”

“ _Understood._ ” Minnie replied, and Kairi was treated to the sight of that scowling one-eyed man, glaring at the camera.

“ _I know you’re ghosting me, bitch._ ” He snarled. “ _You had orders to stay grounded after that shit you pulled in Stark Tower, and then on the port ferry—do you just not give a shit?_ ”

Kairi winced. Iron Woman remained unflinching.

“ _The feds had it under control. If you’d just done as you were told and got rid of that damn Spider-Man, I wouldn’t have been up in your ass about all this!_ ” Braig said, and Kairi’s eyes widened. “ _All you had to do was squash a god damn bug. It’s not that hard!_ ”

Kairi looked at the video feed of Aqua’s visor—seven miles to target. The woman’s hand had balled into a fist.

“ _It’s that damn kid’s fault the ferry split in two, and letting him run around like that—that’s on you!_ ” Braig continued. “ _If we come over tonight and find you missing, it’s over for you, Iron Woman. We’re confiscating the suit, the whole god damn tower._ ”

Kairi gasped. “Miss Aqua—”

“ _Hush._ ”

“ _You wrote the goddamn Accords yourself, hypocrite. The least you could do was practice what you preach. Over and out._ ”

Kairi slumped against her seat, all the energy in her seemingly sapped dry, and she looked at her displays monitoring Aqua, feeling tears prickle her eyes.

“You were ordered to get rid of him.” She said shakily. “T-to… to kill him.”

“ _Yes._ ” A straightforward answer, without hesitation.

The teen gaped at her screen, and for a moment there was tense silence between them. Aqua sighed.

“ _Have I ever done what I’ve been told, Kairi?_ ” She asked, and the redhead blushed.

“I’m… I’m sorry.” She said weakly.

“ _I was ordered to keep Spider-Man away, and all I did was bring him closer to danger. The day I heard his arm got ripped off trying to save people, I realized how stupid I was being, and that for the first time homeland security was right._ ” Aqua admitted. “ _I’d recruited a literal child to face danger in my place. Wearing nothing but a spandex hybrid suit._ ”

“Miss Aqua…”

“ _I was desperate. A fool. So blinded by trying to find the Vulture that I didn’t consider the repercussions of enlisting a teenager to what was left of the Avengers._ ” She growled. “ _And now I’m paying the price._ ”

“They’re going to take your suit away.” Kairi said quietly.

Aqua laughed dryly.

“ _They can try._ ” She said. “ _I’ll make them see—I’ll show them that I’d been a fool, that the Sokovia Accords were nothing but an elaborate plan to put us under lock and key._ ”

Kairi’s eyes widened. “H-huh?”

“ _The data you gave me on that ferry transaction is more than enough. I’ve already had substantial evidence on my own, but that was the final nail in the coffin. The guy from homeland security you caught on camera back on the—Isa, he’s pretty high up on the rungs. Almost as high up as Braig._ ”

“Oh, my god.” Kairi breathed.

“ _They guilt tripped me into writing the Sokovia Accords, splitting my team apart, to weaken us. To make the Avengers no more, so they were free to do whatever the hell they want. Ever since I stopped making weapons, they’ve wanted something new. Something different, that Stark Industries couldn’t offer, and I suppose this was it._ ”

“Vulture’s Chitauri weapons.” Kairi breathed.

“ _Tonight, I caught wind of a major operation. Vulture’s people, and homeland security. Tonight, we end this. Get it all on camera, and tell the whole world that Iron Woman was wrong, that Spider-Man was right to act on his own, when she refused to._ ”

* * *

Aqua smirked sadly to herself as she rapidly approached her target.

“It was all on me, after all.” She murmured, and deployed her RESCUE claymores.

* * *

A week was all it took to heal Sora’s broken heart. It was homecoming before he knew it, and Sora felt like he was back to some semblance of a normal life. Maybe he could actually leave the Spider-Man life behind him.

Maybe getting Spider-Man powers gave his emotions hyper-healing, too, because soon he was standing in front of a full-length mirror, pouting at himself as he and Vanitas attempted to wrangle his hair into something acceptable in formal, polite company.

The two brothers fooled around with Vanitas’s hair gel for half an hour, ‘hmm’-ing and ‘ahh’-ing at Sora’s reflection without much goal in sight, until his older brother gave up and styled Sora’s hair back into its usual spikes.

The older brunet looked in the mirror next to his brother, and gave him one of his rare, gentle smiles.

“You’re gonna rock his world,” He said quietly, in a rare moment of tenderness, before his scowl was back on. “Unless you trip all over yourself like some headass loser like you always do.”

Sora laughed, patting Vanitas’s hand. “Thanks, big bro.”

Later, he was trying on hand-me-down suits in front of a frowning Roxas, who vetoed everything Sora tried putting together himself, before giving up and throwing clothes at his brother himself.

Eventually Sora ended up in a blue polo shirt, glittering sheer fabric on top of comfortable cotton of the same color. The sleeves went down to his elbows, his collars black to match the hem in front that was bracketed with silver tassels that reminded Sora of formal soldier uniforms. There was a pair of silver epaulettes on his shoulders, the one on his left with a pair of dangling lanyards. He blinked at himself in the mirror, and grinned.

“Thanks, Roxas.” He breathed, and the blond snorted from his spot on the top bunk of their bed.

“At least one of us has eyes.” his little brother replied. “Don’t forget to put pants on.”

Even later, right before dinner, Ventus stood with Sora at the door of his car, grinning brightly as he handed Sora a rose boutonnière.

“You look wonderful, Sora.” He said warmly, and Sora smiled up at him sheepishly, getting into the front seat next to Ventus as the older man got into the driver’s seat, starting up the engine. He turned to look at his little brother, and chuckled fondly when he saw the teen practically vibrating in his seat. “Here we go.” He said, patting Sora’s knee, and drove out of the alley where they were parked.

The silence between them was far from awkward, but Sora was antsy. He squirmed in his seat, and Ventus laughed kindly as he turned a corner.

“What’s up, little brother?” he asked.

“I’m just…” Sora took a shaky breath, laughing breathlessly as he looked down at the boutonnière in his hands. “I’m a little amazed that I… I have a _boyfriend_ now.”

“I know.” Ventus chuckled. “Proud of you.” Sora smiled at him at that, and Ventus patted his knee again. “Look at you, growing up so fast. I bet mom and dad would be proud of you if they were still here with us.”

Sora’s smile dimmed slightly at that, and Ventus squeezed his knee.

“You’ll do fine.” He said reassuringly, “Riku’s your best friend. It’ll be like nothing’s changed.”

“But _everything’s_ changed.” Sora said quietly, looking down at his hand, and Ventus shrugged.

“Yeah, but that’s not on you, isn’t it?” He said, and the brunet jolted, turning to look back at his brother. “I know you feel responsible for something—I can see it in the way you look so tired and lonely.” Ventus came to a stop at a red light, and looked at Sora kindly.

“Wh—what, I’m—I’m not—” Sora stammered, But Ventus shook his head.

“Listen. I know you sneak out of the house every night; I know that wasn’t just a broken bone back on that ferry.” He said. “I know something’s up. Don’t think I don’t know about Vanitas and his weed, or that Roxas has started doing BMX and skateboarding. Sora, you have to tell me what’s going on.”

The light turned green, and he drove onward.

“I…” Sora bit his lip, and his eyes prickled with emotion. Ventus waited for him patiently, until he just _broke._ “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” He said, burying his face in his hands. “I—I lost something important to me recently.” He said quietly, voice trembling as Ventus pulled over on a curb to hug him tightly. “I-I just—I had,” his breathing stuttered slightly, and Ventus tutted, rubbing his back comfortingly. “I lost something really important to me lately, and I just—it’s my fault.”

“Is it really?” Ventus asked, pulling away from Sora to cup his cheek in his hand. “Was that really on you or was that something that happened that you couldn’t control?”

“Wh… what…”

“You’re Spider-Man, aren’t you?” He asked, and Sora gaped at him. “Sora, we all know. Roxas is your _roommate._ He doesn’t sleep as heavily as you think. I pay more attention than you know. Vanitas has _seen_ you risking your life when he’s out at night.”

The brunet deflated at that, but Ventus lifted his chin, smiling fondly.

“But I’m so proud of you.” He said softly. “You remind me of a time long, long ago that I wished I could forget, but now… now, I miss it.”

Sora looked at him, confusedly shaking his head, but Ventus patted his shoulder as he turned his attention back to the road.

“Miss Aqua took away my suit.” He said gingerly, and Ventus cocked an eyebrow at him. “She said… she said she’d messed up. That she shouldn’t have sent me out there, because I was… just a kid.”

“You are, though.” Ventus said.

“I… _am._ ” Sora admitted. “But…”

“Still, you want to help, because you can?” He asked, and Sora looked up at him, watery-eyed. Ventus chuckled fondly, and came to a slow stop in front of the curb of Riku’s suburban house. He pulled on the handbrake as the car stopped, and turned to look at him. “Sora, do what you think is right. I’m not telling you to get _out there_ right now, but I’m also telling you to never forget how old you are. It’s not on you to save the world alone.”

He cupped Sora’s face in his hand. “Yes, you’re Spider-Man, Queens’s friendly neighborhood vigilante, but you’re also Sora, my little brother, a regular kid going to a regular high school.” He said. “I know you’ll be able to find a balance between both.”

Sora’s lip quivered, and Ventus stroked his hair. “Aqua’s just human. She makes mistakes, too. That doesn’t make it the end of the world. Heroes make mistakes, but heroes can make them alright again, too.”

“I…”

“Tonight, take it easy.” Ventus said, “Make your boyfriend happy. Learn to breathe again, and tomorrow, you can figure out how to be Spider-Man again, okay?”

Sora laughed breathlessly, and nodded.

“Thank you.” He said weakly, and rushed forward to hug Ventus. The older man laughed, patting Sora’s back, before gently pushing him away, gesturing at Riku’s porch.

“I guess you’d better get going.” He grinned. “Can’t keep your date waiting.”

“I’ll see you around, Ven.” Sora nodded, and hurried out of the car, jogging up to the front door, when his nape tingled.

**_WATCH OUT!_ **

He whirled around just in time to catch the plastic case of the matching boutonnières he and Riku were supposed to wear, and smiled disbelievingly at Ventus as the blond winked at him from the driver’s seat of the car. He gave Ventus a wave, before turning to face Riku’s door.

He took a deep breath.

“Here goes.” He said, and pressed the button. The doorbell rang pleasantly, and he stepped back, straightening his shirt out nervously, and the door opened—

The Vulture’s angry amber eyes stared back at him, and Sora’s heart lodged itself into his throat.

The man towered over him easily, his dark skin a stark contrast to that silver he came to know of in Riku’s hair, and he smiled down at Sora with a kindness that only made the icicles in Sora’s gut drive deeper and deeper inside him.

“Oh, you must be Sora.” The Vulture said, “C’mon, come on in.”

He turned around, gesturing for Sora to follow him, and Sora could only stand there, horrified as the man began chatting about something or other. His legs moved on their own accord—carrying him into the quaint little suburban house, as he heard Riku’s footfalls on the floor above them.

“—And really, I never thought Riku would make friends on his own, so I am absolutely grateful you were there for him,” the Vulture continued. “Want some orange juice while you wait?”

“I,” Sora said intelligently, and only then did he realize that the man was offering him a frosty glass of juice. “Th-thank you, sir.”

“You’re at least polite.” The man chuckled, as Sora took the juice from him, but didn’t drink it. “Riku’s told me a lot about you, y’know, you and Kairi. I’m glad he has friends like you.”

Sora nodded numbly, as the man led him to sit on the couch, settling down stiffly as the man busied himself with clearing out some books that were on the coffee table. Sora looked down at the glass table, and his eyes widened when he recognized a little purplish ball of metal and stone on the table.

A Chitauri grenade. Right in their house. Oh, god.

_Oh, god, oh god, oh god._

His Spidey senses hadn’t stopped screaming since he caught the boutonnière, and he hadn’t thought much of it at the time—of course he would be nervous, he was about to meet his boyfriend’s family—but this.

Oh, god. Not like this.

“Oops, sorry about that.” The Vulture jumped, picking up the grenade to put it on the shelf, and Sora could only gape at him as he moved. “Must’ve brought it home from work by accident.” He laughed, and turned to look at Sora. “I actually have a flight tonight after I drop the two of you off to your homecoming dance, I’ve got a…” The man chuckled, almost innocuous to anyone who didn’t know who he was, but Sora felt a chill go down his spine at the sound of it. “Delivery of new stocks to take care of. Stark Industries is a pretty serious business partner, y’know, so it’s best we get things done ASAP. You know what kind of a diva Miss Aqua is, right, you’ve seen her on TV.”

The pieces clicked together in Sora’s head.

He was planning another heist on Stark Tower. Kairi was called off to Stark Tower that night, because Iron Woman was supposedly doing something elsewhere, and she needed a guy in the chair.

 _Kairi_ was in Stark Tower. She was in danger.

“Oh, where are my manners!” The Vulture chuckled, and offered Sora his hand. “My name is Ansem. I’m Riku’s uncle. His dad is almost always away, so I take care of him in the meantime.”

“N-nice to meet you, sir.” Sora said, trying to keep his voice small as he shook his hand, and Ansem cocked his head at him, frowning slightly.

“You okay?” He asked, and Sora nodded stiffly. “You know, I can’t help but feel like I’ve heard your voice before. Maybe when Riku’s on those internet calls with you and Kairi?” He laughed kindly, and patted Sora’s shoulder.

**_GET HIM OFF ME, GET HIM OFF ME, DON’T TOUCH ME, DON’T TOUCH ME—_ **

“But no need to be so nervous, buddy.” He said, “Riku’s friends are always welcome here at our home, even if he never invites you guys over. He’s shy like that.”

“I am _not._ ” Riku said from the stairwell, and Sora’s head jerked around to look at him—

And his breath fled his lungs.

As fate would have it, Riku was in a shirt that matched Sora’s perfectly, except that his was a lovely shade of violet that matched his sheer blue. The lanyards and epaulettes on his shoulders were gold, and Riku lit up at the sight of him, hurrying up to his side with a wide smile on his face—before he hesitated, and reeled himself in, laughing nervously as he looked away from Sora with a slight flush on his cheeks.

“H-hey, Sora.”

Ansem grinned, and clapped his hand over Riku’s shoulder heavily, earning him laughter from his nephew. Sora’s spine downright _shuddered_ at the sight.

**_LET GO OF HIM, DON’T TOUCH HIM, DON’T HURT RIKU, DON’T HURT HIM!_ **

“Okay, Riku, settle down, don’t get too excited.”

Their banter flew right over Sora’s head as they spoke, and he stiffly handed Riku his boutonnière when the teen turned to look at him. Riku gave him an unsure smile, laughing nervously, but he put it on the both of them as Ansem fiddled with a smartphone, laughing when Riku lightly chided him for being so poor with handling technology.

 _If only you knew,_ Sora wished he could say, when he and Riku posed together at Ansem’s request. He only managed an awkward little quirk of his lips that only barely passed as a smile, and Ansem gestured for the two of them to follow him outside.

“Alright, boys, let’s get going.” He said, and Riku nodded, looking at Sora as his uncle headed outside.

“You okay?” He asked softly, taking Sora’s hand, and the brunet offered him an awkward smile.

“Y-yeah, just.” He shrugged, “Nervous. You, uh… look great.”

Riku smiled at him softly, and Sora wished he could treasure it, but the nerves, the fear—it was too much. He was going _crazy._

“We match.” He forced himself to say, and Riku nodded.

“Yeah, well, I may have had some part in that.” He laughed sheepishly, pulling him along to follow after Ansem outside. “I kinda bribed your little brother into helping you get into that outfit so we could match.”

Oh, he really was in love. Sora’s nerves calmed down, if just a little bit, and he laughed softly.

“Typical Riku.” He chuckled, and Riku simply _bloomed_ at the sight of his honest smile.

“ _There’s_ my Sora.” He said, and pecked the younger teen on his cheek. Ansem whistled at them from the car, and Riku blew him a raspberry as he led Sora along to get into the car.

Sora couldn’t bring himself to enjoy the kiss, even—he should be over the god damn _moon_ at the fact that Riku liked him—liked him _back—_ but all he could focus on was the fact that the Vulture was Riku’s uncle.

The Vulture, the man who’d taken his arm off, tried to kill him several times over and over, _the man who nearly killed his own nephew_ to defeat Spider-Man.

He couldn’t listen to the conversation in the car—he’d missed most of it, until Riku shook his hand to catch his attention.

“Right, Sora? You ran off to take a dump while we were on the ferry, and you escaped with a fractured arm.”

“Y-yeah.” Sora said shakily, and met Ansem’s gaze in the rear-view mirror. The man’s expression was carefully blank, and his heart began to race. “I, uh…”

“There’s even this cool scar halfway down his bicep.” Riku said, and Sora saw it—the minute way Ansem’s eyes widened slightly. “I called it a tan line to piss Sora off, but I’ll admit it was pretty cool.”

“Really.” Ansem said, and Sora could see the way the ball dropped in the man’s eyes. “Good thing Spider-Man was there, huh.”

“God, yeah,” Riku laughed weakly. “Sora, I forgot to mention, did you know he fired his web at my hands? It’s so I could pull him back onto the deck, it was so—god, not gonna lie, it was so _cool._ He’s surprisingly light, like around your size, I think.”

“Y-yeah…” Sora said weakly. “That’s. That’s cool.”

Ansem met his gaze, and the man smirked slowly. Sora’s eyes widened, and he pursed his lips, content to listen as Riku recounted to him how he bribed Roxas to stage their matching clothes.

* * *

It didn’t take long for them to arrive at Midtown High, and Ansem gave Riku a smile, waving him off as the two teens made a move to get out of the car.

“You go on ahead for a little, Riku,” the man said, “Just gonna give the boyfriend here the good ol’ fashioned shovel talk.”

Riku rolled his eyes. “Jeez, it’s 2019, Uncle.” He said, but got out of the car. “Besides, Sora’s the nicest guy I know.”

“Aw, do it for this old man’s sake.” Ansem laughed, and the teen laughed with him.

“ _Fine._ Have a safe trip.” He blew him a raspberry, before turning to Sora. “I’ll meet up with you at the gym.”

“Y-yeah.” Sora nodded, and Riku got out of the car. The moment the door shut behind him, a stiff, tense silence settled down over Sora and Ansem. They watched Riku walk into the school building, and when he was gone, Ansem sighed and pulled out a handgun from the glove compartment of the car. Sora’s eyes widened as the man looked over his shoulder at him, raising a faux-casual eyebrow.

“Does he know?” He asked.

“Know what.” Sora replied stiffly.

“Right. So he doesn’t, that’s good.” Ansem sighed, and cocked his gun. Sora stiffened up, and the man gave him a grin. “Close to the vest. I admire that.”

Sora stayed quiet, his heart pounding in his ears.

“Of all the reasons I didn’t want my nephew to date,” he laughed, and waved the gun slightly at Sora. The teen winced, inching away, and the man’s grin widened. “Oh, man.” He shook his head. Much to Sora’s relief, the man put the safety back on his gun, and lowered it to turn and look at Sora more properly. The shadows of the night clouded his face, shading it in a more sinister light, but his angry amber eyes still remained so bright. Luminescent, like a demon’s eyes staring right into his soul.

“Let me tell you something, Sora. I treasure my family. Riku’s all I got.” He said. “You make my nephew happy, and I can never forget that. So, I’m giving you another chance.”

Sora swallowed nervously, but still said nothing.

“I haven’t seen your ass interfering with my work since the ferry, and it’s going to stay that way. I don’t know how you survived that tackle I did, or how you got your arm back, and I don’t care if it was enough to keep you away.” Ansem looked at the school building, the wildness in his eyes still so hauntingly visible in the deeper darkness that surrounded his silhouette. “You’re going to walk in that building, and you’re going to forget all of this. You’re going to never, _ever_ interfere with my business again.”

He grinned, as Sora lowered his head to look at his shaking fists on his lap.

“If you do, Sora, I’m going to kill you. You, and everyone else you love. That’s how far I’ll go to protect my Riku, do you understand?”

Sora nodded stiffly.

“Hey.” Ansem said, and Sora forced himself to meet the man’s gaze. “I just saved your life. What do we say?”

“Thank you.” He said quietly, and Ansem nodded.

“You’re a good kid,” He replied. “Riku likes you a lot.”

Sora looked down at his fists again.

He should be happy to hear that—but not like this.

_Never like this._

“Now, go in there and show my nephew a good time.” He said, and laughed to himself. “Just not _too_ good.”

Sora numbly nodded, and gingerly stepped out of the car.

His legs carried him from the parking lot to the gymnasium, and it felt like the crowd parted for him as he walked through the middle, where right at the end stood Riku, utterly radiant in the blue light around them.

Sora stopped for a moment, his breath catching in his throat, and he felt his eyes prickle with emotion. The Vulture was Riku’s uncle. The man who took care of him, loved him dearly, to the point of murder and theft just to protect and care for him. Riku was here, happy and healthy and _Sora’s boyfriend,_ because Ansem was there to take care of him.

But this could all turn to ash, if Sora let Ansem do what he wanted.

Riku was in an oxymoronic situation—he was in the safest place he could be, and the most dangerous place in the world.

And just like that, Sora came to a decision.

He had to do the right thing, as he always had, since the beginning. It would break Riku’s heart, he knew, but he _had_ to do it.

For Riku’s sake.

For the sake of everyone who lived in New York.

He looked up at him, crestfallen as Riku laughed softly, tucking a lock of his hair behind his ear as he met Sora halfway, lacing their fingers together as he took his hand.

“What’d he tell you?” Riku asked bemusedly, “Jeez, Uncle Ansem really thinks he could be _scary,_ but he’s really harmless, I promise.”

“I…” Sora’s heart sank, and he raised his hand to kiss Riku’s knuckles. “I like you a lot, Riku.” He said quietly, and Riku’s expression fell.

“Sora?”

“But…” he took a shaky breath. “I gotta go.”

Riku's eyes widened at him as Sora let go of his hand.

“You don’t deserve this.” He said softly, and bolted away. He ran through the corridors, struggling out of his clothes until he came to his locker, bending down to lift the whole row of lockers up to pick up his old Kevlar suit that was underneath it. He hurried into the bathroom to suit up, making sure to toss his formal clothes under his locker again before running outside, panting heavily as he looked around. He needed to find Ansem—he needed—

His eyes widened. He jumped onto the building, shooting himself up into the air as he shot off towards his apartment, panting heavily.

* * *

Riku gaped at the empty space where Sora stood, and around them, their classmates murmured amongst themselves. His expression tightened, and his hands balled into fists.

“Not this time.” He growled, and bolted out the door, sprinting towards the bike racks of the school, and mounted a road racer. “Not on my homecoming night. I won’t let you get away this time, Sora.”

* * *

“Uno.”

“Oh, _screw this,_ ” Vanitas swore, throwing his cards down as Roxas and Ventus laughed brightly, high-giving each other. “You guys are _cheating,_ I just know it!”

“You’re just a sore loser.” Roxas blew him a raspberry, and Vanitas made a move to protest, when the window slammed open, and a sleek black figure darted in. All of them jumped in alarm, Ventus immediately jumping in front of Roxas, only to realize who it was.

“Sora,” he breathed, and immediately the three brothers dropped their guards as Spider-Man yanked his mask off, rushing into Ventus’s arms with a sob. “Sora, what’s wrong?”

“I—I figured it out, the Vulture is Riku’s uncle, he’s going to kill people—he’s dangerous, I have to let Miss Aqua know—”

“Hey, calm down,” Vanitas said, and Sora jerked away from Ventus, panting heavily as he looked at his brothers, wide-eyed and positively _terrified._ “What’s going on?”

“The Vulture,” Sora choked out past the lump in his throat. “He’s—I know who he is. He’s Riku’s uncle, Ansem.”

“Ansem.” Ventus breathed, and he and Vanitas shared a look. “I have to go.” The blond said, dropping his Uno cards on the table, but Sora shot a web at his wrist, holding him in place. Ventus jumped, and he looked at his little brother.

“I’ll go.” Sora said, steady and shaky all at the same time, as if he was being held with delicate little spider silk threads stretching at the seams. “I need—I need a phone.”

His three brothers looked between each other, and Sora’s expression tightened. “ _Please._ ”

Ventus and Vanitas hesitated, but Roxas shook his head, pushing past them to hand Sora his phone. “Here. I’ve got Kairi’s number in there from that time you passed out in her house and she had to call us to pick you up.”

Sora laughed weakly, but he took his little brother’s phone, relishing the supportive little grin Roxas wore before he quickly called Kairi’s number.

* * *

God, this operation was a mistake. Aqua shouldn’t have gone in there alone, and now she was trapped, and all Kairi could do was watch in horror. Suddenly her phone rang, and she _screamed,_ jumping out of her seat to realize that it was just her phone. She stopped, and took a shaky breath as she settled back down in her seat, her eyes widening when she realized it was Roxas calling.

“Roxas?” She mumbled, answering the phone.

“ _Kairi,_ ” Oh, it was _wonderful_ hearing Sora’s voice right now. She couldn’t help the smile that crossed her face, her eyes welling up with tears.

“Oh, Sora.” She breathed. “I’m so glad to hear your voice.”

“ _Kairi, I know who the Vulture is._ ”

Her heart stopped, and her blood turned to ice. “Wh-what?”

“ _I—it’s Riku’s uncle. The Vulture is Riku’s uncle, Ansem. He already knows about me, but he doesn’t know about you._ ” He said, “ _I left my phone in his car, can you track him?_ ”

“Can I—yeah, I can?” She stammered, nodding as she turned to a spare monitor to start typing furiously. “Wait—why are you tracking him? What’s going on?”

“ _I think he’s heading to Stark Tower right now, he mentioned something about getting new stocks from Stark Industries, I think he’s going after the Chitauri tech in Stark Tower while she’s out!_ ”

“Shit!” Kairi swore, when the tracker on Sora’s phone told her exactly that, and patched herself through to Aqua. “Miss Aqua, the Vulture is coming to Stark Tower!”

“ _I figured,_ ” Aqua growled. “ _God, I should’ve realized this was a trap._ ”

She cut herself off with a pained scream, and Kairi gripped her chair’s armrests, white-knuckled. “Miss Aqua!”

“ _Miss Aqua!_ ” Sora gasped through the line, and Kairi could see the video feed from Aqua’s visor jerk up.

“ _Sora?_ ” She breathed.

“ _I’m going to Stark Tower. I’ll keep your Chitauri storage safe._ ” He said, “ _I’ll do it, I can help._ ”

“ _Without a suit?_ ” Aqua shouted, and Kairi could hear the smile in Sora’s voice.

“ _I’ve done it before, I can do it again._ ” He said, “ _I was Spider-Man before I met you, Miss Aqua._ ”

“ _But—_ ”

* * *

Sora smiled at his brothers as Ventus handed him a nondescript black card, smiling.

“I can do it, Miss. Tonight, I realized something.” He pressed a hand to his heart, and smiled. “I can’t shoulder everything, but I have to shoulder responsibility for things only _I_ can take care of. Like protecting my family, my friends. The guy I really like.”

He pulled his mask on, jumping towards the window, looking up at the skyline where the moon crossed behind Stark Tower, and smiled to himself. “So let me, Miss Aqua. I promise, this time, I’ll make things right.”

There was silence on the other side, but Aqua eventually sighed.

“ _Got it, Spider-Man._ ” She replied, and Sora laughed breathlessly.

“Just make it back in one piece, Iron Woman.” He replied, and hung up. He handed Roxas his phone, and looked back at his brothers. “Stay here, where it’s safe, okay?”

“We’ll be alright.” Ventus nodded, and Sora nodded, firing a web rope out the window, and kicking off the ledge. He sighed fondly, and looked back at his brothers with a helpless smile. “Alright, you two, what do you want for dinner?”

“We aren’t—you’re okay with this?” Vanitas asked, crossing his arms, and Ventus laughed, as Roxas looked out the window, straining to see any trace of Sora in the skyline.

“More than okay.” Ventus nodded. “He’s the superhero, after all. Not us.”

He wrapped his arms over Vanitas’s and Roxas’s shoulders, and grinned.

“So, who’s up for some Thai?”

* * *

Riku skidded his road racer to a halt at the foot of Stark Tower, looking up at the skyscraper with a gulp. He’d never actually been there before, but Kairi had said he and Sora were always welcome there, if they needed to get in. At some point, he and Sora registered their biometrics to Kairi’s account, so they could drop in whenever they wanted to, and right now, Riku needed to see his other best friend.

Kairi and Sora had always been disappearing on him, one because of the Stark Internship, the other, for a myriad of reasons that never really sat right with Riku. Between the two, he knew Kairi was the easier one to pin down, and by now Riku had decided that he had absolutely all the right to know where the hell his boyfriend— _boyfriend!_ —had been disappearing to.

He logged in to the tower’s systems, and he jumped when the doors slid open.

“ _Good evening, Riku,_ ” a friendly voice greeted, and he saw an elevator open. He looked at it warily, but he stepped into it.

“Miss AI?” He asked, “Can you take me to Kairi?”

“ _Understood._ ” The AI replied, and the doors slid shut behind him. Riku looked at it warily for a moment, before turning to look out the window of the elevator with a sigh. He leaned against the railing, rubbing his arm gingerly, and looked down at the boutonnière on his shirt.

“Sora…” He murmured, “What won’t you tell me…?”

He watched the skyline move down lower as he ascended Stark Tower, but he frowned when he spotted something in the sky. He squinted at it, moving closer to the glass, and his eyes widened when he realized who it is.

“The Vulture!” He gasped, whirling around to realize the door was opening, and he bolted outside. “Miss AI, where’s Kairi?”

“ _Please go down the corridor and turn right._ ” The AI replied. “ _I will guide you to her._ ”

Riku grit his teeth as he hurried along. The Vulture was here—that meant he and Kairi were in _big_ trouble, he needed to get her out of there. Lord knows where Iron Woman was right now, and he hadn’t heard from Spider-Man since the ferry.

He hesitated for a moment, turning the corner as the AI directed him to go to the fourth door on the right, and looked down at the ground.

Where _was_ Spider-Man, he wondered.

He shook his head, and burst into Kairi’s room. The girl was seated at a computer with way too many monitors for Riku’s taste, and for a moment he stood there, dumbly blinking up at the display. The sound of his entry startled the redhead, and she screamed again, shooting out of her chair to whirl around, holding up a taser in her hand, but realization quickly sank in when she saw Riku.

“Riku?” She breathed, lowering her taser as she ran over to him. “What—what’re you doing here, I thought homecoming was—”

“Sora ran away again, I need to know where he is.” Riku said, squeezing her shoulders. “Please, I don’t want to be in the dark anymore. I need to know where he is, what he’s doing.”

“I…” Kairi breathed, and suddenly the building shook. She screamed, and Riku pulled her close, looking up at the ceiling fearfully as Stark Tower shuddered around them. “We have to get out of here!”

Riku nodded, and the two of them hurried outside. He followed her into the elevator, panting heavily, as she fiddled with an earpiece in her ear.

“Iron Woman? Spider-Man? Does anyone copy?” She barked, and Riku’s eyes widened as she listened to someone talk. “Yeah, okay. We’ll head to your penthouse.”

She jerked her head up to look at the ceiling.

“Minnie, lock us up.” Kairi said.

“ _Understood. Initiating penthouse lock-up protocol. Stay safe, Miss Kairi._ ” The AI replied, and Riku jumped when the elevator started moving up.

“You—you have contact with Iron Woman and Spider-Man?” He stammered, and she gave him a wry grin.

“I’m their guy in the chair.” She replied, and Riku gaped at her. “Don’t worry, Spider-Man is coming. We’ll be okay.”

“Oh, I’m so glad.” He breathed, pressing a hand to his heart.

Riku couldn’t deny that he felt something jump in his chest at the mention of the superhero. He faltered slightly, feeling a blush cross his face, and she grinned at him slightly as he looked away from her.

“What.” He deadpanned.

“Where’s the guy who said he thought Spider-Man was a tool?” She asked, and Riku snorted, smacking her arm lightly.

“He saved my life, Kairi.” He deadpanned. “I can’t be grateful?”

The redhead grinned at him slightly, but she couldn’t say anything more when the building shook again. Riku grabbed her, holding her close protectively as she looked up at the ceiling again.

“Minnie, pick it up!”

“ _Increasing elevator acceleration._ ”

The building jolted again just as they arrived at the penthouse, and Kairi bundled Riku out of the elevator as the both of them rushed into the luxurious space.

“We should be safe here,” She panted, throwing her hand up into the air. “Minnie, slam that oven!”

“Slam the—wh— _what?_ ”

“ _Initiating the When Miss Aqua Isn’t Home Protocol._ ” Minnie said, and a pair of holographic gauntlets appeared in front of Kairi. She shoved her hands through them, and they remained on her as she waved them around experimentally.

“Wh-what’s going on?” Riku asked weakly, and Kairi gave him a wry grin.

“Spider-Man and I… _may have_ weaponized Miss Aqua’s penthouse apartment.” Kairi admitted. “If the Vulture comes running along, we won’t be sitting ducks, we’re helping Spider-Man fight.”

“How in the _hell_ do you _weaponize a penthouse?_ ” Riku wasn’t shouting, he absolutely wasn’t, but tonight was insane enough for him to probably maybe admit he was.

Kairi gave him a withering grin. “Welcome to the world of superhero work.”

He ran his hand through his hair, taking a nervous breath, and nodded.

“Right. _God,_ superheroes.” He said. “Let’s do this.”

And that was exactly when the chaos began.

* * *

Sora launched himself across rooftops, making a beeline for Stark Tower, hanging from a speeding drone above his head. The card that Ventus gave him could expand into a spider-shaped drone, and he used it to fly himself to Stark Tower as fast as he could.

In the distance, he could see the Vulture already making his approach, and he let out a shout of protest, firing a web rope at the man. It slammed into his wing, and Sora was torn away from his little spider drone to jerk up towards the building.

He shouted in alarm, feeling his newly-healed arm creak in protest, but he held fast, gritting his teeth as he was yanked up into the sky. The Vulture looked down at him, and clicked his tongue.

“You’ve got a death wish, kid.” He spat, and swung his wing, throwing Sora into the side of the building. He crashed through the glass, screaming, and he slammed against a pillar, making the building shake. Wincing, Sora pulled himself back up onto his feet, and backflipped out the other side of the floor through the glass, firing upwards to hit the Vulture again as he made a wide loop around the tower. Ansem swore, kicking his feet at Sora to try and get him loose, but he couldn’t. The teen let out a shout of effort as he clung onto the side of the tower, yanking _hard_ on his rope to keep the man grounded.

“I’ve had enough of this!” Ansem growled, and suddenly deployed something from his feet. Sora’s eyes widened when he realized they were mechanized claws, sharp like talons, and they grabbed the rope that held them together, yanking _hard_ back.

Sora screamed when he felt his arms protest the strain—his newly-healed one screamed harder and Sora panicked, letting go of the glass with no small amount of fear, some shards sticking to his fingers. The Vulture threw him high into the air, and he gasped, gaping down at the earth as he watched Stark Tower fly past him, until he was even higher than that, barely touching the clouds at his highest point before he began to plummet—

Right towards the Vulture’s talons, and he let out a scream of pain as they clamped around his body, clenching hard enough to break his bones.

He strained _hard_ against them, pushing on the talons away from his body to keep them from crushing him. Above him Ansem laughed maniacally as he dove down towards Aqua’s penthouse. He slammed Sora into the helipad there, again and again and again.

* * *

“ _Holy shit_ , he’s here!” Riku jumped, as the tower shuddered once more, and he and Kairi hurried to the door to see the Vulture beating Spider-Man to the ground again and again. The redhead gasped, her hands shooting up to cover her mouth, and Riku’s expression tightened. “We gotta help him.”

Kairi looked around the apartment, and nodded uneasily. “Riku, I’m gonna need your help.” She said, pulling him over to the door, and held her hand out at Vulture the same way Iron Woman aimed her repulsors. “Stand like this.”

“What… what’re you doing.” Riku deadpanned as he did as he was told anyway, and Kairi hurried away to hide behind a wall. She typed something on her holographic gauntlet, and he looked up to see a drone approach him, pointing some kind of projection camera at him. “What is that?”

“It’s augmented reality tech. Made by some weirdo downstairs, can’t remember his name.” Kairi replied, “Point is, it can make really believable illusions, but right now it needs a base to project off of, that’s you.” She typed again on her gauntlet, and light shimmered around Riku. He blinked at her confusedly, and she nodded. “So, what we’re gonna do is pretend Iron Woman is here to distract the Vulture long enough to let Spider-Man catch his breath.”

“R-right.” Riku nodded uneasily, and Kairi took a shaky breath.

“Here we go. Just hold still, okay? Jump out of the way when I tell you!”

* * *

The Vulture beat at Sora until he stopped with a definitive shout, dropping Sora down at the sound of a voice behind him.

“Pick on someone your own size!”

He whirled around and saw Iron Woman standing at the glass sliding door entrance of her apartment, repulsor aimed at him. His eyes widened, and he let Sora go to charge at her.

* * *

“Hold still, Riku!” Kairi warned, and Riku’s hand began to shake.

“I’m _terrified,_ Kairi!” He screamed, “ _Please_ tell me I can dodge!”

“ _Now!_ ”

* * *

“Now!” A girl’s voice barked, and suddenly a barrier slammed down on him, and the sickening sound of his wings crunching ripped through the air. He growled, and swept them to the side with a shout, sending expensive furniture and the security shutter flying, and he caught a flash of red and silver hair as they hurried past him under the shutter.

He looked at where Iron Woman was supposed to be, and his eyes widened when he saw a weaponized drone, instead. A projector light shone from it, and Ansem swore as he whirled around to see two teens pick Sora up from the ground.

He charged at them, just as Sora jolted. His spine tingled, and he hurriedly shoved his friends aside to meet Ansem halfway, firing twin webs at his torso as the man shot up into the sky, and Sora screamed, pulling at him as hard as he could. The man struggled against the webs’ hold on him, and Sora jumped when he felt two pairs of arms hold him securely. He turned to look at either side of him to realize that Riku and Kairi had grabbed hold of him, the both of them straining to help Sora hold on tightly.

“C’mon!” Kairi was screaming in his ear, but he couldn’t care less if she was blowing his eardrums out. “We can do this, Spider-Man!”

“You’re not alone!” Riku agreed, and Sora’s heart shot to his throat as he felt his boyfriend’s hands wrap around his beaten and bruised ones, meeting his gaze when he looked down to grin wanly at him. “Y’know, I called you a tool a while back, but y’know what? You’re not actually half bad.”

Sora grinned under his mask. “Th-thanks.”

“My boyfriend’s still better, though.” Riku laughed softly, and squeezed Sora’s hands a little tighter. “Even if he keeps bailing on me.”

Sora’s heart ached at that, but he turned his focus back on Ansem as the man struggled against his hold.

“Enough!” Ansem snarled, cutting off one of the webs with his wing, but Sora was quick to fire another one at his wing, and then another to replace the one on his torso. He struggled with a roar of anger, and Sora could feel Riku and Kairi’s arms giving out alongside his own—

“ _That’s enough._ ”

Iron Woman’s voice rang through the sky, and a repulsor shot struck the Vulture right into the back, and the blue-armored woman landed on the ground on one knee with a loud _slam,_ her armor beaten up and scratched like crazy, burn marks and ricochet burns marking her iconic chrome and blue. She straightened up, grabbing Sora’s web ropes to _yank_ the Vulture right out of the sky with a huff, and their world exploded in light. Sora held Kairi and Riku’s heads down as he jerked his head up to realize that there were helicopters surrounding them.

Her helmet clanked open, and she strode over to the Vulture to tear one of his wings off his back, turning to hold it up like a trophy for the helicopters to see.

“Take a good damn look, New York.” She declared boldly. “I, Iron Woman, Aqua, was _wrong._ ”

Riku and Kairi jolted at her as Sora could only gape under his mask. Aqua grinned at them wryly.

“The Sokovia Accords, all of it—was a way to keep us supers grounded, to keep us from fighting the threats right in our backyards, but not anymore. Tonight, I declare a formal protest on the Sokovia Accords to get our freedom to protect others again.” She held her hand out at Sora, and the teen blinked at her. “And it’s thanks to you, Spider-Man.”

Kairi and Riku looked at Sora, and the eldest teen smiled fondly, gently picking Sora up by his arm. He slowly slung Sora’s arm over his shoulder, and led him towards where Aqua stood, Sora limping the whole way.

“Let the world know this,” Aqua declared, as Riku helped Sora stand next to her, and only then did the teens realize that the helicopters were news helicopters—cameras, running, broadcasting Aqua’s message to the world. “We face dangers in our world far more frequently than we think. Since the failed Chitauri invasion of 2012, we’ve put a target on our planet, and we cannot sit here and twiddle our thumbs waiting for _permission_ to _save lives._ ”

Sora held on to Riku tightly, and the teen squeezed him back.

“Spider-Man defied the Sokovia Accords to save lives—he’s here tonight to do the right thing, and so will I!”

Suddenly, Sora’s spine tingled. He jumped.

**_WATCH OUT!_ **

He pushed Aqua away as _hard_ as he can just in time for the Vulture to blast a gust of wind at them. He ducked down, ignoring his screaming injuries to hold fast to the roof as Aqua shot up to the sky to dive at the Vulture to destroy his wings once and for all, and Sora winced as pain took over—

“Spider-Man!” He heard Riku scream, and he whirled around to realize that the older teen had been blown back. Sora’s eyes widened as he saw Riku teeter over the edge of the helipad, and their eyes met—

“Sora, I—” Riku breathed, and fell off the edge.

Sora wasted no time, unsticking himself from the helipad to shoot off the edge of the building, diving down after his boyfriend.

* * *

Riku squeezed his eyes shut. Holy shit, this was it. He was going to die—

He slammed into something—into some _one,_ and his eyes shot open, his head jerking up to realize someone caught him, and his mouth fell agape when he saw Spider-Man looking down at him, panting heavily.

“I got you, I got you,” stammered a familiar voice from the mask as he pulled Riku into his arms, the older teen scrambling to wrap his arms around the superhero’s neck, hugging him tight out of fear. “Wh- _whoa,_ you’re holding on tight. _Ow._ I’m injured, gimme a break.”

“Sorry.” Riku mumbled into the teen’s neck. “Not good with heights.”

Spider-Man laughed— _outright laughed—_ and held Riku securely as they swung through the streets of Manhattan, away from Stark Tower. “Didn’t peg you to be scared of them.”

“Yeah, well, not all big guys are endlessly brave, y’know.” He replied, and tried not to think about how Spider-Man’s warmth against him was so _familiar._ So comforting.

“That’s why I’m here, pretty boy.” Spider-Man chuckled. “C’mon, look up. The skyline’s beautiful. Promise I won’t drop you, I’ve got sticky hands.”

Riku laughed at that, but then screamed when they dropped in midair as Spider-Man shot another web to keep themselves swinging, clinging to him desperately. The teen laughed, and Riku grumbled at him, slapping his back before daring to look out beyond Spider-Man’s neck—

And his eyes widened at the sight of the night sprawled out before him. The city lights were like little fireflies far below them, around them—the wind was cool on his skin, and for a moment, Riku forgot his fear, and felt like they were _flying._

“It’s… beautiful.”

“Yeah.” Spider-Man said, and Riku turned to look at him only to realize the superhero was looking at him. They stayed like that for a moment, before Spider-Man tore his eyes away from him to fire out another web rope again, and Riku could somehow feel the superhero was flustered, despite not seeing his face.

It was odd, and he knew he should be pissed off at him—he’d _laughed_ when Riku admitted he was scared, but.

But.

Oh, it was hard not to like him. Not to feel the same way the rest of Queens felt about him, and here in his arms that beautiful night, maybe Riku could get over himself for a few minutes to say he was falling a little bit in love with their goofy— _highly illegal_ —vigilante superhero.

At least, not out loud, where the rest of the world could hear him.

Riku cleared his throat awkwardly, adjusting his hold on Spider-Man as the teen landed them on a familiar rooftop. He blinked, and realized that it was Sora’s apartment building.

“Wait, this is—” he began, but he jumped when Spider-Man kissed his knuckles through his mask. “Spider-Man.”

“Sora told me a lot about you.” He said, and Riku’s heart ached when the pieces suddenly clicked into place at the sound of his voice. “You’re a great guy, Riku. He likes you a lot. He’s—he’s so sorry he left you hanging at your homecoming, he knows how much it meant to you, you worked hard on it, and—”

“Sora, it’s okay.” Riku said shakily, and Spider-Man fell still, body stiffening up as he laughed past the emotion that blocked up his throat. “You don’t think I won’t recognize the sound of my boyfriend’s voice even through all that Kevlar?”

Spider-Man was quiet for a moment, before he relented and pulled his mask off, Sora looking at him teary-eyed. 

“Riku,” He said shakily, and he rushed into the older teen’s arms to hug him tightly. Riku hugged him back, and the both of them sunk to the ground, relief sleeping out of them as they slumped down, exhausted. “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

“Hey, it’s okay.” He said softly, rubbing Sora’s back as they held each other close. They fell quiet after that, and Riku took a shaky breath.

“Hey… that Vulture guy, he’s Uncle Ansem, isn’t he?”

“Yeah.” Sora mumbled into the crook of his neck. Riku held him a fraction tighter, his expression taut.

“So before we met up in the gym for homecoming, he…”

“He told me never to interfere with his business ever again. He gave me a second chance to walk away from it all, but I thought about you—about what could happen to so many people if I just let him go, and I—”

He pulled away from Riku to cup his face in his hands.

“I can’t stand thinking about what could happen to you because of me. It didn’t matter if you stopped liking me because I kept running away, because you being alive and hating me will always be so much better than you being dead _because_ of me.” He confessed. “I… I’m a super who decided to do something with my powers, because I _could._ ”

He held Riku’s hands in his trembling ones.

“I want to help people. I want to keep Queens safe.” Sora looked into Riku’s eyes. “I want to protect _you._ ”

Riku blinked at him for a moment, and Sora held his breath.

“Riku, I—”

Sora jumped when Riku leaned forward to brush their lips together in an awkward press, and they jolted apart, gaping at each other.

“I’ll always like you, Spider-Man.” Riku smiled at him, cupping Sora’s face in his hand, and the brunet _crumbled._ Tears rolled down his cheeks as he held onto Riku’s hand, and Riku kissed him again, a sweet little press of their lips together, and Riku pressed his forehead against Sora’s. “I’ll _always_ like you, Sora.”

“I like you so much,” Sora whined, and Riku laughed, kissing him again as they hugged tightly—

“ _Spider-Man?_ ” Iron Woman’s voice sounded through Sora’s earpiece, and the two teens jolted apart. Sora and Riku gaped at each other for a moment, before Sora shook his head to clear it, pressing a finger to his ear.

“I-Iron Woman?” He asked, and he heard her huff in relief.

“ _There you are. I hope you managed to save your friend._ ” She said, and Riku leaned in close to Sora’s ear.

“Boyfriend, ma’am.” He corrected her, and Sora burst out laughing as Aqua chuckled in his ear.

“ _Boyfriend, of course._ ” She amended, and Sora could hear the smile in her voice as she spoke. “ _I’m glad you two are safe. We’ve taken care of the Vulture, he’s currently going into custody. I’ve already sent Kairi home. Spider-Man, take a break. You deserve it._ ”

Sora beamed, and nodded, though she couldn’t see him.

“Yes, ma’am!” He cheered, and smiled up at Riku as the older teen took his hand. “I guess… you don’t have a place to stay right now, so…” He gestured at the building below them, and Riku nodded, laughing softly.

“Yeah, I’d like to stay.” He said, “I feel safer with you around, after all.”

* * *

A week passed without much happening on Sora’s end, as was the wont of a hero’s story, and you start feeling the pressure of your bladder at the bottom of your belly, eagerly waiting for the movie to end. I’m sure, in the background, some other things were happening—Aqua taking care of the corrupt officials taking advantage of the Sokovia Accords, the rest of the Avengers slowly emerging from their exile to help her rebuild her team.

That’s not the story we’re following here, we’re here following our very own Spider-Man, who was doing just fine, thank you very much.

By the end of the week, Sora was still just a regular teenager from Queens, and Spider-Man was a mysterious super who never showed up again after Aqua’s dramatic declaration from her rooftop. Kairi kept at her Stark Internship, building Sora a new suit alongside Aqua late into the night, and in the day, Sora swung between his schoolwork and patrols through New York, feeling freer than the birds he soared with in the sky.

Riku moved in with his father at Stark Tower—why his father lived there, Sora will never know—and Ansem was jailed, and everything was alright.

At least, until the next time someone disturbs the peace, but we’ll get to that some other time.


	2. post credit scene #1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> face it, tiger...

Riku stood alone at the balcony of his room, smiling out at the skyline of Manhattan as the wind blew his hair gently. The night was peaceful, and after living in Stark Tower for over a month, he got used to the height. He wasn’t that lonely anymore—he lived with his father now, and he was far more comfortable than he had ever been since living with Ansem.

His phone buzzed, and he grinned, looking down to see the message.

_Sorry I’m late! Sudden pizza delivery._

Riku rolled his eyes and typed back a reply.

_Don’t text and swing._

The wind blew against him _hard,_ suddenly, and he dropped his phone with a shout. His eyes widened, his heart leaping to his throat as he saw it fall—

Only to be stopped with a web rope, and he smiled slowly as he looked up to see Spider-Man hanging upside-down from a few balconies above him, lowering down so he was eye-level with his boyfriend.

“Hey.” He greeted, and Riku laughed, shaking his head as Sora pulled his mask off.

“Hey.” Riku greeted, and Sora grinned at him.

“How’d you know I was texting you while I was swinging?” Sora asked.

“I _know_ you, Sora.” Riku rolled his eyes, and Sora laughed. “I was literally the only asshole who figured out you were Spider-Man right when I met you.” He paused. “Properly.”

Sora snickered, and Riku crossed his arms.

“Face it, tiger… you just hit the jackpot!” He grinned, and Sora reached out for him. The older teen smiled, and leaned forward to kiss him, upside-down and all, and when they parted, Sora let out an amazed sigh.

“Wow.” He breathed, and Riku laughed breathlessly, stepping back as Sora jumped down onto the balcony with him. “ _Told_ you kissing upside-down would be _awesome._ ”

“Yeah, I guess you were right.” Riku chuckled, and Sora leaned in for another kiss—

“Oh! Riku! You have Sora over, that’s wonderful.” Someone said, and Sora leapt away from Riku, balancing on the bannister defensively to realize that Mickey had walked in through the balcony door. He blinked at the man, and then at Riku, and back at the man.

“What’s… what’s going on?” He asked uneasily, and Riku jumped.

“Oh, right! I never got a chance to introduce you yet.” He said, “Well, I _assumed_ you knew, since you guys worked together, but—

“Wait,” Sora’s Spidey senses tingled.

**_oh, you’re in trouble now._ **

“Sora, this is my dad, Mickey.” Riku said, smiling, and Sora’s hands shot up to his hair.

“What the fu—”


	3. post credit scene #2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> time to begin the nightmare.

“It’s complete.” The young man breathed, picking up the canister with wide eyes filled with wonder, as behind him, a black, amorphous mass writhed and howled in fury. He turned around to load the canister in a diffuser, locking it in place before pulling on a gas mask.

“This had better work…” He murmured, carrying the diffuser with him past the containment chamber of the writhing alien to approach a clear-walled chamber, where inside an unconscious redhead girl sat tied to a chair. The young man set the diffuser on the ground at the corner of the chamber, pressing a few buttons on it, before he headed outside the chamber, sealing it shut with a huff. The sound roused the girl from her sleep, and she jolted awake, her eyes going wide as her breaths grew shallow and panicked in realization where she was.

“Wh—what—what are you gonna do this time?” She screamed, “Please—please, just give him back to me, _you got what you wanted—_ ”

“Hush,” the young man said softly, pressing a hand against the glass, grinning wanly as he looked up at her terrified face. “It’ll all be over soon.”

He turned around to put on a round glass helmet over his head, and looked at her over his shoulder.

“FLORA, start the nightmare.” He said, and a pair of drones flew up behind him, projecting an image towards the screaming, thrashing girl, and he watched her seize up, her screams intensifying as slowly, a little grin crossed his face. The young man took a step closer to watch her shudder and scream, and as if on cue, green vapor emerged from the diffuser. He watched, eyes wide as the girl breathed them in, and soon she fell lax, shuddering only ever the slightest as she sniffled and hiccupped.

He waited for the green gas to run out, and when she was done, he opened the door again, the girl’s head weakly turning to look at him.

“Subject X,” he said, and she nodded slowly. “You are a monster. You are broken, with a parasite living inside you, eating you from the inside out.” Her nods grew more feverish, her lips curling into a horrifying snarl as his own lips curled up into a satisfied grin.

“Do you know who did this to you?” He asked, and she paused for a moment, twitching and growling. “Subject X.”

“Spider… Man.” She growled, and he nodded.

“Spider-Man.” He agreed, and she howled, beating against her restraints in rage.

“ _Spider-Man!_ ” She screamed, and he stepped back, shutting the door behind him as he went outside.

“FLORA, end the nightmare.” He smiled to himself as he listened to her thrashing and howling, taking his glass helmet off to put it down. The drones that followed him came to a stop by the helmet as he strode past it, heading out towards a little crowd of people, and he threw his arms open, cocking his head as he grinned confidently.

“It works.” He said, and they burst into cheers that filled the hauntingly cold, hauntingly empty basement. “It’s time for the master of illusion to fly.”

**Author's Note:**

> :3c 
> 
> mysterio lives!!!!!! MYSTERIO LIVES!!!!!!!


End file.
